Namimori Student Transfer
by Maiokoe
Summary: Fate chose to intervene on her behalf and have her start at Ouran. Leaving the life she knew and her friends behind, her new world as Ouran's new student begins. Now living with her controlling grandmother, how will she survive without her best friends and family? Reposted; "At First Glance" is the ongoing updated version of this.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me in the least~

Please note: This is the original "Namimori Student Transfer". No edits or whatever done at all. The original script, from start to finish.

I'm also working on the sequel cause I originally posted this like two years ago, finishing like last year or whatever~

* * *

It was a normal day. Just a normal Wednesday afternoon. The sun was shining normally, the birds were chirping as they normally did at this time of day. The same classes were being held as they had all year. The same teachers were still droning on about the same thing. The same kids were sitting at their desks, bored out of their minds.

But they all knew, even the teachers, that something was gonna happen.

They didn't have to wait long.

It was in Ryohei Sasagawa's last class of the day that it happened.

The door had suddenly opened and everyone had turned to see the figure of Kyoya Hibari, Leader of the Disciplinary Committee. He gave the whole class a level gaze, with everyone averting their eyes quickly, (save for an '_Extreme'_ boxer) before he turned to the teacher. The man winced slightly, but smiled as politely as he could. "A-ah, Hibari-san. What a pleasant surprise…"

"Ren Kuroki is excused from class." The cold voice said. The teacher looked at the girl quickly before indicating she should go. The girl, long brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail and honey brown eyes, stood up and walked to the door. Hibari moved aside, letting her pass before closing it. Ryohei blinked at the sudden absence of his friend, but by then, the teacher had started the lesson up once again.

* * *

She walked silently through the halls. She knew why she was called out of class. She knew why Hibari came and got her himself. He didn't speak as he led her to the Disciplinary Committee's room. She looked to her right and out the window that overlooked the school grounds. She smiled slightly when she noticed the little yellow bird, simply known as Hibird, flitting about. Hibari stopped and Ren, not paying attention, bumped into his back. He looked over his shoulder at her and she quickly looked down, avoiding eye contact.

She noticed the door he stopped in-front of was his committee's room. He slid it opened and she followed him wordlessly. It closed behind her and she looked back quickly to see the second in command of the committee, Kusakabe was it? He gave a slight nod to her in acknowledgement, but that was it. Hibari sat behind the desk and she stepped in-front of it timidly.

"You know why you're here."

"Yes." Hibari regarded her with cold eyes.

"You're leaving Namimori."

"Yes."

"_For another school."_ Ren averted her eyes. Everyone knew how much Hibari liked Namimori Middle. For him, someone leaving was unthinkable. "Herbivore." She continued averting her gaze. "Where are you going." The way he said it wasn't a question; it was a command that was to be answered.

"My grandmother decided to put me into a school closer to her." Well. It wasn't exactly the answer he wanted, but it was an answer. His gaze narrowed and Kusakabe quickly left the room to leave them alone to discuss.

"What's wrong with Namimori?"

"N-nothing. My grandmother just wants to see me more." Her gaze flickered to his, then quickly back down to the floor. He stood up slowly and she stepped back hastily.

"Kuroki. Why are you leaving Namimori."

"I-I'm sorry, Hibari-san, but my grandmother insists I live with her… starting tonight…" she whispered. He scowled at her, but she didn't dare look up again.

"Dismissed."

She practically ran from the room.

* * *

"REN! THERE YOU ARE! I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU TO THE EXTREME!" an arm was flung around her neck and male laughter was heard. Ren smiled at her friend.

"Ah, just talking with Hibari-san." She answered quietly. Ryohei grinned and walked forward, his arm still around her neck. She was forced to walk with him.

"I figured he would wanna talk to you soon! About your whole moving thing!" Ryohei answered, walking steadily toward Tsuna's classroom, seeing as school was over for the day. He talked about how he didn't understand what the teacher had been talking about, but he was gonna figure it out by himself if he had too. He's gonna fail at that, Ren thought to herself with a smile.

Upon nearing the classroom, Ryohei had released her and opted for her hand instead, dragging her toward the 4 teens waiting for them. "Kyoko!" he called cheerfully and she had turned with a bright smile on her face, the others turning as well.

"Onii-san! Ren-chan!" Kyoko answered back just as cheerfully.

Ren had originally been in Tsuna's class, but she had been pushed up a grade and they were thinking about putting her in a higher grade yet again. She seemed too smart for her own class. Thus, she was good friends with Kyoko and Haru, a girl who walked with them to school in the morning. Tsuna was polite to her, but he was more of himself as well; he wasn't as nervous like when he was with, ah say, Hana. Gokudera was the same to her as he was to everyone else. Yamamoto was the say to her as he was with everyone else. Ryohei treated her like another little sister.

"Kyoko-chan, Tsuna-fish, Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto-kun," she greeted when Ryohei finally stopped pulling her. Kyoko and Tsuna looked at her sadly; Kyoko's eyes were watery.

"You're really leaving, Ren-chan?" she asked, her lower lip starting to tremble. Ren gave a slight smile to the girl, hugging her gently.

"Sorry, Kyoko-chan. Grandma wants me to live with her now. There's really nothing I can do about it, but I like grandma. I'll call you when I can, I promise." The orange haired girl looked up bravely, nodding her head, a few tears flowing down. Ren smiled again and looked over at Tsuna. "Be strong, Tsuna-fish." He averted his eyes quickly at her nickname for him.

"Ren-chan…" he mumbled. A yelp and he was suddenly on the ground, a familiar black haired child standing on his back.

"Ren. Your grandma's waiting in the courtyard." Ren bit her lower lip and her brows furrowed.

"I told her not to do that… Come with me. I don't wanna say good-bye just yet," she told the group.

"Sure thing, Ren-chan~!" Yamamoto grinned cheerfully at her while Gokudera growled, helping Tsuna up from the floor. "Hey, kid, how'd you know what her grandma looks like?" Yamamoto asked Reborn. Reborn simply gave a smirk, hiding his eyes under the rim of his hat.

Once they were all ready, Ren led them down the stairs toward the front of the school. The walk down was filled with idle chatter, none of them really wanting to say anything about the inevitable. Ryohei had his arm slung around Ren's neck once again, which made walking a bit hard for her down the steps, but she was able to manage. Gokudera kept asking Tsuna if he was alright, and Tsuna kept answering that he was used to this by now. Yamamoto just walked along cheerfully.

* * *

"Oh, my dear Re-… Who are these… _others_?" Ren flinched at the voice that was her grandmother's. She had been afraid of that…

Her grandmother was a striking woman in her late 50s. Her hair was still as black as it had been when she was 20 and her eyes were still as clear as when she was a child. High cheekbones, and pale, full pink lips, she didn't look to be the grandmother of a 14-year-old; She looked more like that of a 39 year old lady.

"Ahaha, grandma… T-these are my friends. This is-"

"Come along now Ren. We haven't got all day to be idle. I already have your things at the house. Now, it was a long drive out here and I want to get home as soon as possible. You're to start your new school tomorrow and I do _not_ want them thinking my granddaughter is some country bumpkin! Now, say good-bye to your little friends and let us be off!" and with no other words said, she turned on her heel and strode purposefully toward the black limo that was waiting in-front of the building. Ren made a small noise of disappointment and turned to Kyoko.

"S-sorry, Kyoko-chan… I guess I can't tell Haru-chan good-bye…" Kyoko nodded knowingly, hugging the girl.

"Don't worry, Ren-chan. I'll tell her you wanted to." Ren's eyes became watery as she nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Kyoko-chan… Ryohei-kun, please try to pay attention in class. Please…" The teen looked down, poking his shoe against the concrete.

"I'll try…" he answered, not at all in the normal 'Ryohei Sasagawa' fashion. She smiled gently. She knew he didn't like studying.

"Tsuna-fish. Be strong. I know you're not a wimp," she had a mischievous glint in her eyes that Tsuna didn't like so he only nodded quickly.

"H-hai, Ren-chan. I-I'll try." Gokudera eyed her suspiciously and Yamamoto simply patted her head.

"I guess we'll be seeing you then, Ren-chan!" the tall teen laughed. Ren hugged him swiftly, earning a confused look from the boy before he laughed again. She looked over at Gokudera and he growled at her.

"I ain't hugging you, woman." He crossed his arms stubbornly and her brow furrowed in thought.

"Fine." And so she quickly kissed his cheek. He reeled back, staring at her with wide eyes.

"O-oi! What was that for?!"

"Well, you wouldn't hug me, so… I guess I'll see you guys around, okay? See you!" she turned around and started jogging toward the limo. The group watched as she went toward it, Gokudera furiously rubbing at his cheek. As she neared it and almost made it, she stopped suddenly and turned back to the school.

Up on the roof, Hibari stood silently, watching as she starting leaving. When she had stopped and turned back, he noticed that her eyes flickered up toward him. She grinned brightly and waved. He didn't return the motion, opting to simply cross his arms. She had laughed lightly before turning back to the limo and dived into the open door. The chauffeur closed it behind her and then went to the driver's car door, opening it up and slipping inside. The vehicle roared to life and it was soon gone.

He 'tch'ed, walking toward the door that led him back into the school. "Stupid herbivore. I'll have to have a talk with that stupid Bronco." He muttered darkly as he descended the steps.

* * *

Ren sat quietly in the limo, not making a sound as her grandmother spoke on the phone with one of her many employees. She could tell by the tone of her grandmother's voice that she wasn't happy with the employee. As the minutes passed, her grandmother's voice grew softer; it was a sure sign that whoever that person was, they were about to be in big trouble… most likely they were gonna be fired.

"-I don't care what Sachihe is doing. I do my own thing at my company," her grandmother said. She paused, listening to the voice on the other end speak before she answered. "That's not how I do things. It'd be better for you if you learned how to listen to orders from me and your superiors. Dismissed." And she snapped the phone shut without another word.

Now that Ren really thought about it, being with her grandmother was rather intimidating…

Tomiko Kuroki was the president of her late husband's company. It was one of the Top Five businesses, right up there with the Ootori's and Suoh's. A strong, independent woman who had one child, her son, Ren's father, Takumi Kuroki. The two didn't get along very well, but Tomiko simply adored her only grandchild. Many thought she was a sister, not the mother, since she and Takumi looked similar in appearance and age.

"So, Ren. Those boys you were with." Ren blinked at her grandmother who was seated causally against the leather of the interior, her arms resting on top of the seats. Tomiko raised an eyebrow at her only grandchild. "Don't tell me you're already dating." She held in a chuckle when Ren started spluttering. "Ah, they seemed nice enough, but, that silver-haired one… I'm not too sure about him. Are you two going together or something?" Amidst her protests, a thought when through Ren's mind; Grandma never really has acted her age. She always acted like those young women I met from time to time, the ones in their late 20s. She reminds me of them, how she talks so causally about some subjects. "So, so, what's his name? I want to know all about him." Tomiko urged, leaning forward with a smile on her face.

"B-but I'm not going with anyone!" Ren was able to wail. Tomiko leaned back into the seat, her arms resting once again across the tops.

"Huh. I was sure you were, seeing as you kissed him and all-"

"On the cheek grandma!" Ren cried, her face becoming a light shade of pink. Tomiko cocked her head to the side.

"Why does that matter? A kiss is a kiss." She smiled when her granddaughter buried her head in her hands. Tomiko wondered how close she really was to those friends of hers. Though the one looked familiar, but it couldn't be who she thought it was because that one that seemed familiar looked only 5 years old. No way could it be who she thought it was. "Ah, cheer up. You're gonna like your new school. The kids there are like you. I think you'll get along fine, though, I have to warn you. Your new uniform isn't quite ready yet, so, you'll have to wear… _Namimori's_ until then. Don't embarrass yourself too much tomorrow, kay? Good. Ah, look. We're home." She opened the door quickly, exiting from the vehicle, Ren following after her hesitantly.

* * *

Ahh, and so it begins~

Please please review! I know it's not the best, but I really hope you guys like it so far!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: KHR! And OHSHC do not belong to me in the least.

* * *

Ren stared at her grandmother's home for a minute before a hand was laid on her shoulder. She looked over to her right, clutching her school bag to her chest. The driver stood there, smiling gently. "Welcome, Miss. I hope your stay here will be pleasant." She gave a shaky smile back before nodding.

"Y-yea. I hope so too." He nodded, stepping back to open the trunk and pull out 2 suitcases, both, she noticed, were hers'. She walked toward the large double door leading in the inside of her grandmother's house, falling back, startled, when a few of the staff were there to greet her.

"Welcome Miss." They all bowed their heads and she stepped timidly down the aisle they had made for her by lining both sides of the hallway.

"H-hi…"

"Come along Ren. I haven't all day to show you to your room." Tomiko's sharp voice rang out at the end of the hall. She stood there, tapping her foot impatiently for her granddaughter, her lips pulled down in a frown. Ren quickly passed the servants, who straightened up and watched her go with amused looks on their faces before they went and returned to work. "That's more like it. Now, come along. I _do_ have work to do you know." Tomiko started briskly down the next hallway, Ren rushing to keep up with her. "Now. If you need anything, Roland will be there to get it for you. The-"

"Who's Roland?"

"Don't interrupt. This is the main hallway. Here's the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the den, the ball room, a study, the bathroom…" Tomiko continued naming the rooms that they passed and Ren was suddenly very overwhelmed.

* * *

Of all the people he would ever call on his own free will, Hibari would have never thought he would call _him_. He had decided, right after she had left actually, to call him and speak with him about this matter of the utmost importance. He didn't bother telling the others, the ones who were convinced he was part of their little group. They were delusional if they thought that. They had seen him after she had left and asked if everything was alright.

He answered them with a threat of biting them to death.

They had quickly left him alone after that.

Once all club activities had ceased for the day and everyone had left for their homes, he had decided now would be as good as any to call. He also didn't particularly care about the time difference… which happened to be an 8 hour difference. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the number quickly, pressing it to his ear as it rang.

He never really liked the guy, but he did make him stronger, so, he wasn't totally against him… yet. When the phone was finally answered, he heard a sleepy voice on the other end.

Come to think of it... He had never wanted to learn Italian. Good thing he did know one phrase. A very simple phrase that went straight to the point.

"Mi permetta di parlare con il Bronco stupido." **

Oh yes. A very straight to the point phrase.

The man on the other line muttered something in Italian before calling out to someone, most likely in the room. Some noise, that of the phone being handed to someone before another voice, a very familiar irritating voice was heard. "_Ciao_?"

"Stupid Bronco." Hibari switched back to his native tongue swiftly, seeing as he didn't know much other Italian. Not that he would ever admit _that_ of-course.

"_Ahaha? Kyoya_?"

"She left." Hibari glared ahead of him as he walked down the sidewalk. On the other end, Dino looked at the phone in confusion.

"_Kyoya? You alright there? Who left_?" Hibari resisted from losing his temper even further than he was already losing it.

"Kuroki."

"_Ah, Ren? Oh dear. Looks like Auntie finally did it."_ Hibari's eyes narrowed further.

"Why did she leave?" he was able to demand. In Italy, Dino shook his head sadly.

"_Well, Auntie loves Ren and believes her own parents aren't good enough for her. I guess she finally got custody of her. She and her son don't get along too well you see."_ Hibari continued to restrained himself. He honestly didn't care about her father or her grandmother. He just wanted the Namimori student back where she should be; in Namimori. "_Kyoya? Hey, if you want I can try and talk to Auntie… but it may be hard to get her to put Ren back into Namimori-" _

"I don't care. Just get her back here. She's disturbing the peace of Namimori with her leaving." And he clamped it shut, walking purposefully back to the school to patrol.

Dino stared at his phone for a long moment.

"'Disturbing the peace of Namimori with her leaving,' huh? I doubt that, Kyoya. I really doubt that." He murmured to himself. "Romario."

"Yes Boss?" the man appeared from where he had been standing in the shadows. Dino smiled slightly.

"I think a trip for Japan is in order to solve this problem."

"Yes Boss."

* * *

"Miss Kuroki, wake up Miss." Ren made a noise in the back of her throat and opened her eyes slowly.

Her room was a wide, spacious area with a bed in the center, the headboard pushed against the wall and transparent material hanging down from the canopy. A dresser and a vanity table were against the left wall and the right wall opened up to reveal the walk-in closet that was about half the size of her own room. A small table and two chairs occupied the lower left corner and a couch occupied the right. The floor was heavily carpeted in the bedroom, but the closet floor was a light brown colored hardwood flooring. A door leading to her own personal bathroom was settled next to the vanity table.

Ren blinked up sleepily at the maid standing next to her bedside. The maid bowed her head. "Miss, it's time for you to get prepared for school. Will you be needing my assistance?" Ren shook her head, slowly becoming awake.

"No thanks. I'll be fine." The maid nodded, bowing her head once again.

"As you wish, Miss. Your uniform is within the closet. Please call if you need anything," and then she quietly left the room. Ren was sitting on the bed as she became aware that her hair was really rather messy.

"…I need a shower."

* * *

"Alright Ren. This is your new school. Ouran Academy. Don't make a nuisance of yourself on the first day. Many of my acquaintance's children attend this school. I don't want you to make a fool of me, alright? Now, Roland will be here at 3:30 _exactly _to pick you up. I expect you to be here for him when he comes. If I obtain any indication that you are in-fact being a nuisance, I will fix that problem immediately, understand?" Tomiko told her granddaughter sternly. Ren could only nod, indicating she did in-fact understand. Tomiko nodded. "Right. Well, here's your bag, your books, a few notebooks, some pencils, here's a binder, your schedule, and- oh for Heaven's sake, tie your hair back- oh don't do that. Here just turn around and let me do it. My goodness. I was right in taking you in; your parents haven't done too great a job with you…" Tomiko quickly and skillfully took a hold of Ren's long hair, twisting it into a braid and then twirling the braid around itself in a coil, placing some bobby pins in strategic places to hold it together. She surveyed her work carefully before giving a curt nod. "I suppose that will do. Alright. Here's your lunch dear. Now, I'll want to know how your first day went you get home, okay? Have fun." Ren stumbled out of the limo and her grandma smiled and waved before it went on its way. Ren simply stared as it left.

Her grandmother could be so confusing…

"Ah, you must be Miss Ren Kuroki. Please, come this way." She turned to the voice and blinked at the tall, dark-haired man before following him into the building. It had been agreed that she would be upped a grade yet again, into the 10th grade instead of the 9th. This had been established while Ren had been following her grandmother through her home. "Well. I do believe you'll be the youngest we ever had in the high school. If you don't mind my asking, what grade would you be in, if it was based upon age?" the man inquired pleasantly and Ren found that she didn't quite like how his eyes kept shifting around.

"8th. I would be in 8th grade." _With all my friends._ The man looked at her in surprise.

"My my! What a smart young lass we have in our midst!"

It was official. She didn't like the man very much.

She was able to give an uneasy smile as he hustled her into the building. "Now, we'll start by giving you a tour of the building, hmm? Yes, I think that would be our first order of business. Yes, that'd be most fine. Now! Here we are in the main hall! Next were moving to the dining hall!" he spoke cheerfully as he showed her the various places. Her Namimori uniform attracted a fair amount of glances and stares as they passed through the halls. Her eyes flitted across all the faces that looked her over.

She didn't think she'd like this school very much…

* * *

He continued leading her down the hallways, finally stopping in-front of a door. He looked over at her and grinned. "Do you think you'll be able to find your way from the front hall to here?" he asked her, raising a brow.

"I-I think…"

"Wonderful! This is your classroom- Oh! We should probably introduce you to your classmates!" he clapped his hands together and she blinked. He knocked on the door a few times before it was opened by a man she was supposing the teacher was.

"Ah, is this the new student?" the man asked, looked her over. Her escort nodded.

"Yes indeed! Well, you're in capable hands now! Ta ta!" and he wandered back down the hallway they came before disappearing from sight. Ren couldn't help but wonder if he was quite right in the head.

"Well? Come in then." She scurried through the door and froze at the sight of her classmates. They were all older than her, of course, but they intimidated her for some rather odd reason. "This is a new transfer student from Namimori Middle School. I hope you all will be kind to her-ah, what's your name, Miss?"

"R-ren Kuroki…"

"Ah. Ren. Yes, please try to make Miss Kuroki comfortable here in our school. You can sit over by Mr. Fujioka, over there." He pointed to an empty seat and she quickly went to it, sitting down and trying not to attract much attention.

Alas, when you're wearing a dark blue uniform and everyone else is either wearing yellow or periwinkle, it's quite hard to do.

The teacher went back to the lesson that was interrupted and Ren tried to pay attention to it, but she could feel many stares on her.

* * *

The bell for lunch rang and Ren held back until all the students had left. She was surprised to find that Haruhi Fujioka, as she had learned his name to be, had held back as well and was now smiling at her. "Hi. I'm Haruhi. Sorry I wasn't able to properly introduce myself when you first came in." He held a hand out and she shook it.

"I-it's fine. I'm Ren… but then again the whole class knows that…" Haruhi laughed and picked up his own lunch.

"Would you like to sit with me? Though, I'm gonna warn you I have some pretty weird lunchmates." Ren thought back to her own lunchmates and figured that Haruhi's couldn't be all that weird, compared to hers.

"I-I'd like that."

"Good! It's settled then! Hey, how old are you anyway?" Ren blinked at the random question.

"Um, 14. I skipped a few grades." Haruhi looked her over, clearly impressed.

"Wow. That's amazing. Ah, we better get going before they find me missing. Come on," and he led the way out of the room, toward the dining hall.

Haruhi clearly knew where he was going so Ren simply followed quickly. He sat down and Ren sat next to him. Almost immediately, two boys she knew who were in her class came over with a blonde haired one who was obviously an older student. "You're the transfer student, right?" one of the twins asked.

"Yea, Ren Kuroki." The other answered his brother's question. The blonde sat down across from Haruhi and smiled at her.

"I'm Tamaki Suoh. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kuroki. I must say, news of a new transfer student has spread throughout the school. You're the talk of the day and most likely the week!" Ren smiled back uneasily.

"I-I'm not sure that's a good thing…" he blinked at her voice and then peered intently at her.

"Miss, I hope you don't mind my asking, but, how old are you exactly?" Ren looked down at the table.

And here people were always saying how much older she looked than her actual age…

"14."

"My, such a young age! You've skipped a grade or so then have you? That's quite a feat!" Ren looked back down at the table and Haruhi patted her shoulder.

"Yea, isn't it, Senpai? Oh, Ren. These are the Twins, Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin." Ren looked up and watched as the two grinned at her.

"Alright. So you're Kaoru and you're Hikaru. I'll remember that." She said softly.

"Haru-chan~!" A little blonde child appeared on Haruhi's other side, a tall black-haired teen standing behind him.

"Ah, Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai." He greeted them. Honey grinned, then caught sight of Ren.

"Haru-chan, who's this?" he tilted his head to the side cutely.

"This is Ren Kuroki. She just transferred here."

"Oh! So you're the new student! It's nice to meet you, Ren-chan!" Honey grinned at her brilliantly and she smiled slightly in response. "This is Takashi! Say hi to Ren-chan!" Honey was now speaking to the taller teen. Takashi shifted his glance to her and nodded in recognition.

"Everyone just calls him Mori-senpai, Ren," Haruhi told her. Ren nodded.

"Ah, Haruhi. Who's your friend?" a smooth voice asked. Haruhi turned to the voice, obviously knowing who it was.

"Ah, Kyouya-senpai, this is Ren Kuroki." Ren's eyes widened in horror.

"K-kyouya?" she was able to whisper. She knew, as did everyone else in Namimori, that it was practically forbidden to call Hibari by his first name; the only one she knew who did was her own cousin, Dino. Mori moved to the side and there stood a black-haired teen with glasses. He raised a brow at her.

"Have we met before?" Ren practically fainted with relief.

"A-ah, no, sorry… I mistook you for someone else…" she was able to manage. He looked her over carefully.

"It's nice to meet you then, Miss Kuroki."

"Y-yea…"

"And these are all my friends," Haruhi said, breaking the quiet that had surrounded them. Ren nodded and looked back down at the table.

* * *

Wouldn't that be terrible if Hibari just showed up and was all like "Rawr"? And then proceed to attack all their pretty faces? That'd be terrible… but I'd pay to see it~


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: KHR! And OHSHC do not belong to me in the least.

* * *

The rest of the day, class was normal. Nothing in particular or interesting happened, just the same classes they had every day. Ren was paying attention in class because she didn't want to look back and see all those stares on her. She jumped when the bell rang signaling the end of class. She let out a deep breath and waited as everyone else exited the room.

And that's when she remembered her grandmother's warning.

She gathered her things quickly, in a slight panic at the thought of making Roland wait. If he waited, he would tell her grandmother. If he told her grandmother… she was gonna be in _deep_ trouble.

Who was Roland anyway? now that she thought about it. When she had asked yesterday, Tomiko never did answer the question and she didn't know what he looked like…

Well. She was gonna be in trouble.

* * *

She walked out of the front doors, scanning the small groups of people scattered around. She ducked her head, trying to avoid their stares. Which, as mentioned before, was difficult. She heard many whispers and murmured voices as she walked toward the street. She glanced around and when she caught the eyes of someone, they looked away quickly to whisper to their friends. She hung her head lower. "Now Miss. Is that anyway to act in public?" a voice chided her. She looked up slowly and first noticed a suit. Blinking, she looked up a bit further and saw a mustache and a familiar face with glasses.

"Romario!" she cheered, hugging him tightly. He smiled and then pried her off of him, evident of the stares.

"Miss Ren. Please. Into the car Miss." She looked up at him and then down quickly, shaking her head. He raised an eyebrow and waited for her explanation. He knew she would tell him.

"I'm waiting for Roland…" she finally said after a time. Romario sighed and shook his head. From his suit jacket, he pulled out a driver's hat that Tomiko had given him and placed it half-heartedly on his head. He now understood why she had given it to him.

"Roland's replacement, at your service Miss. I'll be driving you home by request of your grandmother." She looked up at him in surprise and tried to keep from laughing at his appearance. A frown marred his features and he looked very uncomfortable. "The Boss has requested to be here when you were picked up, so he's waiting inside. If you'll please come this way…?" He didn't have to tell Ren twice. She ran to the car and flung the door open.

"Dino!" the blonde looked up from his book and smiled at her.

"Ah, Ren. So good to see you." and she dived into the car, hugging him tightly. Romario closed the door behind her and slipped into the driver's seat. "I see you've missed me."

"Of-course I have! I don't get to see you very often! Why're you here anyway?" She tilted her head to the side and looked up at him curiously. He ruffled her hair.

"Kyoya called me last night." Ren blinked before paling slightly.

"H-he did? What for?"

"To get you back in Namimori. Apparently you're disturbing the peace with your leaving and he's convinced that Namimori students should be in Namimori." Dino smiled and pried her off of him. "Come on now. We're in a car. Seat-belt, little cousin." Ren moved to her seat and buckled herself in. "He wants me to talk to Auntie and try to get you back in Namimori. He also wanted to be here when it happened, but I told him Auntie wouldn't like that and would be even more reluctant. He, amazingly, agreed to let me handle it." Ren had a thoughtful look on her face and Dino raised an eyebrow. "Ren?"

"Hmm? Oh. Hibari's not usually like that… Maybe Kyoko and them have been upset and he can't stand their crying? I was friends with a lot of the girls, that might be what he means." She answered. She turned her gaze to the window and watched as the city swirled past them. Dino watched silently before he picked up his book.

"Well, your guess is as good as mine. We left right away so we could get here and solve the problem as quickly as possible. Kyoya would be upset if we took too long." He said after a time of silence. He saw her nod and he smiled before opening his book and carrying on where he had left off.

* * *

"Auntie Tomiko," Dino called in greeting when he saw her. Tomiko smiled and walked toward them.

"Ah, Dino. I was wondering when I would be able to see my nephew! My, look how you've grown! Such a handsome young man! Are your quite sure you can't live here in Japan with me?" she gave him a hug and then held him from arms length to look him over. Dino laughed.

"Sorry. Business back home is real hard, I was surprised to be allowed to come out here on such short notice." Tomiko pouted much like a child would and released him. Dino smiled. "Sorry. Ah, Auntie, I need to discuss Ren's schooling with you." Tomiko tilted her head to the side, her brow furrowed.

"What of it? She's attending the best school for someone of her status, she's well advanced in her studies-" she was interrupted when Dino cut her off.

"It's not that Auntie. I was requested to speak with you about returning Ren to Namimori." He said, watching as Tomiko's face became dark.

"_That_ place? Why would _I_ ever return her there? There's nothing there for her! She's with those- those- those nobodies there! Here, she gets a quality education and is around people like her! What could be at Namimori?!" Dino gave her an uneasy smile as she glared.

"A-ah, one of the students, someone I know actually, requested I speak to you about returning her there. Apparently she's causing- uh, many people miss her there and aren't—um, well you see, the thing about that is—they um… They miss her." Dino finally settled for. Tomiko raised an eyebrow at him.

"…Are you quite alright Nephew? And my decision is final; Ren's staying here. She will not return to Namimori." Tomiko crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Dino evenly. He sighed, but nodded.

Ren watched this whole exchange with blank eyes. She just loved how she couldn't make her own decisions… it was amazing how they discussed this with her _in the room, _yet never asked what she wanted. Really rather spectacular, if she did say so herself.

Not.

"Right, Auntie. He was just concerned about her I suppose-"

"Wait, '_he'_? Did a _boy_ request you to talk to me?" Tomiko interrupted him. Dino blinked. Her eyes were filled with something he couldn't describe, something that always scared him when she got interested in a subject. And when she got interested in something… things _got_ interesting….

"Y-yea, a student at Namimori Middle." Tomiko's eyes flickered to Ren and Dino suddenly feared for his cousin. "Auntie, what're you-"

"Ren dear, I'd like to meet this little friend of yours~!" Tomiko sang, abruptly cutting off Dino… yet again. Ren and Dino paled and Ren quickly shook her head 'no'. "Well, why not Darling? I'd like to see this young man who's so infatuated with you! To request Dino to talk to me because he was shy! How cute!" Ren furiously shook her head and Dino eyes were horribly wide.

"G-grandma! You don't get it! He doesn't like me!"

"OH?! SO HE'S IN-LOVE WITH YOU?! Oh my! Now I _really_ want to meet this young man! Roland! Please set up a meeting with this young man immediately~! Dino, please tell Roland where to find him! Ta ta! I have work to do!" she wiggled her fingers in a wave before walking deeper into the house, disappearing into one of the many rooms. A man in his mid 40s stepped forward, bowing to the two of them.

"I'm Roland. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Kuroki. Now, as the Madame has requested, I'd like to retrieve this young man so the Madame can discuss with him. Sir?" Roland raised an eyebrow when Dino had turned to Romario, speaking with him quickly. Romario nodded and called another of the Cavallone subordinates over, ordering him to do something. The subordinate nodded, striding out of the building where he disappeared. Dino smiled at the man, Roland.

Dark hair and dark eyes filled with confusion, Roland raised an eyebrow. "It's been taken care of. Kyoya will be here tomorrow afternoon upon request of Aunie. Is that acceptable?" Roland bowed slightly before walking off to the room where Tomiko had disappeared into. Dino grinned and turned to Ren, who was watching him suspiciously. "Well little cousin. Shall we go and catch up on life?"

"Dino, what're you-"

"Don't worry about it." he cut in, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Come on. Let's go talk before dinner's ready."

"You're staying? Here? For real?" she questioned excitedly.

"Sure. Here for a few days, then I'm going to visit Tsuna and his Family." Dino informed her. her shoulders slumped as they walked down the hall to where Ren remembered a sitting room to be.

"Lucky… I'd like to see Tsuna-fish…" she murmured quietly. Dino patted her head, ushering her into the room.

"Don't worry. I'll tell them you said hi and miss them."

"And I can't help feeling you're planning something, Dino…" she told him, looking over her shoulder at him.

He simply smiled innocently.

* * *

"Kyoya Hibari." Hibari opened his eyes, glaring at the two men in suits. He _had_ been taking a nap, but they were aware of that fact. They figured the information would be good enough that he wouldn't bite them to death.

"You're trespassing on Namimori School property. That's not allowed." He stood up slowly, bringing his tonfas out, ready to give them their punishment.

"We're here on the orders of the Boss. He's requested you come to meet with Mrs. Tomiko Kuroki tomorrow afternoon. She's asked to meet you." Hibari's eyes narrowed, but he put away his tonfas.

"Today."

"We're sorry, but Miss Kuroki and the Boss are catching up at the current moment. It's been decided that tomorrow would be better, as Mrs. Kuroki will be able to receive you better." Hibari's gaze narrowed even more, but Dino's men stood firm. They gazed at him silently for a long few moments.

Then he laid back down.

"Get off school property, or I'll bite you to death."

They were all too willing to follow that command.

* * *

"Miss Kuoki. Miss Kuroki, it's time to wake up." Ren rolled over and simply put her head deeper in the pillows. A soft sigh was heard and then a small hand was placed against her shoulder. "Miss Ren, it's time to awaken, lest you be late for school." Ren opened one eye sleepily, then closed it once again. "Miss Ren, please wake up. It's time to prepare for school. Miss Re-"

"Yo! Ren! Huh? She's still asleep? Yo, Ren! Wake up! Come on now!" When Ren was suddenly in the air she opened her eyes quickly. She looked up at the grinning face of the Cavallone Boss. She was somehow in his arms.

"Oh look. My own Prince Charming," she said, her voice gravelly from just waking up. He dropped her unceremonially onto the bed and she glared at him. "I was having a nice dream too!" she noticed the amid scurrying out of the room.

"Come on. Just go get ready, hmm?" He waved before walking out of her room. But not before tripping twice and falling face first into the carpet. Ren watched him with an amused expression before she slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

"Oh, Ren. There you-" Ren turned and saw Haruhi standing there with the Twins. She smiled shyly, pressing a bit closer to Dino.

"Haruhi, Hikaru, Kaoru. G-good morning…" the twins raised their brows before looking at each other.

"Hey, Ren. What's up?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru grinned beside him.

"Yea, we were looking for you earlier."

"A-ah, well, I just got here." Haruhi looked over at the twins before stepping forward.

"Just ignore them Ren. That's what I do. It seems to work." Ren gave a slight smile.

"Hey, Haruhi! That hurts!"

"Yea Haruhi!" Haruhi ignored them and looked at Dino.

"I'm Haruhi Fujioka. It's nice to know Ren has a kind older brother." He extended his had to Dino, who shook it with a smile.

"It's nice to know Ren here has some friends. I was kinda a bit concerned about that part." He released his hand and patted Ren on the head. "I'll see you later then. You remember what's going on tonight, right?" Ren's face got pale and she nodded slowly.

"Y-yea…" Dino grinned.

"Well! I'm off to see Tsuna then. I'll see you tonight," he waved before making his way back to where Romario was waiting for him at the front gate. Ren watched as he left.

"Hey, Ren. He looks like a foreigner." Ren nodded, not looking back at the speaker, who she knew was Hikaru.

"Yea. He's my cousin, not my brother. He lives in Italy." Three 'ahh's were heard and she turned back toward the school building.

"Then who's Tsuna?" Kaoru asked her. Ren blinked.

"Tsuna's a friend from my old school."

"So why's he going to visit him?" Hikaru asked.

"Tsuna's his little brother."

"Ah." Ren looked down, holding her school bag close to her, trying to pull her Namimori uniform's skirt down a bit lower. She still didn't have her Ouran uniform, something about having to get it specially tailored…? So she still had to wear Namimori's. Haruhi patted her shoulder.

"Hey, if they annoy you, just ignore them. And if they keep annoying you, come find me." Ren looked up at Haruhi, a small smile on her face.

"It's fine. They remind me of my friends."

"Your friends always annoy you?" Ren brought a hand to the back of her neck.

"W-well, they're just hard to deal with from time to time…" Haruhi smiled as they walked to their class.

* * *

Hard to deal with… BAHAHAHAHA

Well, we're just trucking along with this!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: KHR! And OHSHC do not belong to me in the least.

* * *

"Ren, come on! We're gonna be late for class!" Ren blinked as the twins each took a hold of one of her hands and started sprinting toward class, Hikaru also grabbing hold of Haruhi's hand.

"H-hey, wait a minute! I can walk!"

"You're too slow!" They continued dragging the poor girl and Haruhi down the many halls and toward the class, rocketing into the room right before the bell rang. Ren sent a glare towards the two who simply gave her Cheshire cat grins before sitting down in their seats. Haruhi shook his head, sitting next to her and patting her shoulder.

"They're just like that."

"I'm suddenly very reminded of Ryohei and Lambo..." Ren mumbled to herself and Haruhi just smiled at her, but before he could say anything to her, the teacher walked in, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"So, Ren, how are your classes so far today?" Tamaki asked her when she sat down quietly next to Haruhi once again for lunch. She looked up from her bento to blink at him hesitantly. He smiled at her and she looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to him.

"They're fine, I suppose…"

"What would make them better? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself today." She looked away again, fiddling her thumbs.

"W-well, it's not that I'm not having fun…" _It's because my stupid cousin invited Hibari-san over today._ "It's just… well… I'm very used to Onii- um, Ryohei to suddenly get inspiration for something during class and yell it out for the world to hear…" _And I miss my friends. Everyone looks at me weird here. _

Tamaki nodded and tapped his chin in thought, leaning forward a bit. "Well, here one can't suddenly yell out in class- oh, that's right. Didn't you go to a commoner's school before you came here?" he interrupted himself. Ren gazed at him blankly.

"Commoner's… school?"

"It's what he calls normal public schools, Ren," Haruhi informed her tiredly.

"Oh. Yeah, I used to live in Namimori until my grandma got custody of me." Haruhi turned to look at her, as did the others that were seated; Mori, Honey, and Kyouya-senpai had yet to appear. "What?"

"Your grandma got custody of you? What does that mean, Ren?" Haruhi asked her and Ren looked down again. It was a few minutes before she responded and by then, the others had arrived and seated themselves. She looked up, her face carefully blank of anything.

"My grandma doesn't get along with my dad, her son. They don't agree on a lot of things, business and personal. They especially disagreed on the way I was growing up. My father wanted me to be a normal kid, grow up in a normal home, and go to a normal school. Grandma on the other hand, wanted me to be enrolled in private schools and be friends with the kind of people she was friends with. Since I do have parents, nobody saw any reason to give my grandmother custody of me. After a particularly long discussion… argument, my grandma went to court to get custody of me. She won and I left Namimori." Ren's eyes were void of all emotion as she looked back down at her bento and began eating quietly.

Everyone else was silent and they each looked over at Tamaki. Their leader was watching her, his eyes soft. "Ren. Do you not like your grandmother?" She chewed for a moment before swallowing and answering.

"No. I love my grandmother." She continued eating and it occurred to Tamamki her voice different, a slightly lower tone.

"Did anyone seem rather concerned at your leaving?" he questioned, trying to figure out what was wrong. And here she froze, the chopsticks half-way to her mouth. She closed her eyes, setting them down and taking ahold of the napkin, wringing it in her hands.

"W-well… Hi-hibari-san seemed r-rather upset at my leaving… he talked with me before I left and seemed r-rather angry grandma w-was taking me a-away…" she was able to manage. And Tamaki's eyes sparkled.

"Aha! So you miss this 'Hibari' fellow! Let me guess! He was your boyfriend; that's why he didn't want you to leave! That's why you're sad!" he cheered, obviously glad he figured it out. Her eyes were filled with horror as the Twins cheered with Tamaki as well. She stared at them and Kyouya noticed this. He flipped through his black notebook, scanning the pages before stopping on one.

"As I recall, 'Hibari' is known as the Demon of Namimori and physically harms those who disturb the peace or threaten any of its residents. Crime rate is actually surprisingly low for a city of its size. Most likely due to Hibari's threats. Ren, are you aware if the rumors are true?" He gazed at her and she closed her eyes tightly. Tamaki and the twins stopped their cheering to stare at Ren as well.

She nodded. "Hibari-san's the Demon of Namimori. Any who disturbs the peace answer to him. He's the strongest person in the city, besides for- ah, well, and does physically harm those who threaten its peace…" she gave a quiet laugh. "Most of my friends were on the receiving line and I've been in bad situations more than once when Hibari-san's been close. We damaged some of the school once… that was probably one of our worst ideas ever… " She noticed them staring at her and when Tamaki suddenly took her hands in his own and hugged her close, she froze.

"Oh you poor thing! Now we're ever so glad you've been brought to us! We shall protect you from this brute who is so violent toward people!" he declared and she looked away blankly.

"Not when your cousin invited him over for dinner." And Tamaki stopped and looked down at her. He slowly set her back down in her seat and stood in-front of her.

"Then you'll come home with me. I shall not let you be harmed!" He stated, the twins seconding him.

"Ahahahaha, that's funny, Tamaki-senpai. Thanks, but I can't. Dino will only be here so long before he leaves to see Tsuna-fish." She told him and he deflated, wilting into his chair and sobbing. "A-ah, Tamaki-senpai?"

"Don't worry. He does that a lot. He'll be fine in a few minutes," Haruhi assured her and Ren sat back in her chair, eating her lunch and casting occasional glances at him. Haruhi was right; he was his normal self after about 4 minutes, talking and laughing with the others. She noticed when Honey seated himself next to her, looking up at her.

"Hey, hey, Ren-chan? Did he ever hurt you?"

"Yea." Honey gasped, covering his mouth with his hands.

"No! Why would he ever hurt you, Ren-chan?! You're too cute!"

"I was crowding." Honey blinked up at her innocently; he obviously didn't know what crowding meant. "I was with a big group of people in the hall and we were gonna be late for class, so… yea."

"No! Just for talking to your friends?! He's such a meanie!" he cried, hugging the girl around the waist. "Don't worry, Ren-chan! We'll be your friends and you won't ever be bothered by that guy again!"

"T-thanks, Honey-senpai…" _Actually, I kinda wanna see Hibari-san again because that usually means Tsuna-fish and the others are nearby. _

"Hey, Ren-chan? You should hang out with us tomorrow!"

"But we have schoo-"

"Tomorrow's Saturday! We don't have school all day, silly!" Honey laughed at her and she shrugged.

"I'll talk to grandma about it, though, I probably won't be able to since my cousin's here from Italy and he doesn't come often."

"Oh, that foreigner from this morning?" Tamaki implored, joining the conversation.

"Yea. It was a surprise visit this time around, so, I think he only has a week." _The only reason he came at all was because Hibari-san probably threatened him…_

"Well, I agree you should come with us over the weekend! You're fun, if not a little young, but you act older than your age so it should be fine!" She raised an eyebrow at him, but shrugged, finishing her lunch quietly.

* * *

"Dino!" Ren launched herself at her cousin who caught her easily.

"Ah, Ren! I stopped by to see Tsuna today; Kyoko and Haru say hi, Gokudera told me to hit you for something he didn't specify-"

"I kissed him."

"Ah, that would explain it… Yamamoto says hi as well, Tsuna's glad you're adjusting to school well, Ryohei insists he come and visit you, and Lambo was crying." Ren hugged him tightly as he listed off what they said. "Oh, are these your other friends?" Ren pulled away and looked over her shoulder, surprised to see Haruhi's other friends. She actually just learned they were all part of the Ouran Host Club, Honey and Haruhi included.

"Oh, I didn't know you guys followed me out… Dino, this is Tamaki Suoh-"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Ren speaks so highly of you," Tamaki shook his hand and Dino grinned at him.

"Oh? I'm glad about that, I guess!"

"-and this is Kyouya Ootori, Takashi Morinozuka, and… Honey-senpai." She finished, not knowing Honey's real name.

"Or Mitsukuni Haninozuka," Kyouya offered, stepping forward to shake hands with Ren's blonde cousin. Dino raised an eyebrow, but shook his hand as well.

"Well Ren. Kyoya's been waiting patiently all day and he very well wanted me to pull you out of school so he could get you back at Namimo-"

"Herbivore." Ren froze, staring ahead of her not moving.

"Ah, Kyoya! I thought I told you to wait in the car?"

"I don't listen to you, Bronco."

"Ahahaha, I gathered that." A hand on her shoulder gently shaking her and she turned slowly to look at Hibari. He stood behind them a ways, arms crossed, his jacket around his shoulders freely. She quickly bowed in respect to him.

"Hi-hibari-san… N-nice to see you again…"

"Just get in the car, herbivore. You too, stupid Bronco. They're too many weaklings crowding here." and he turned on his heel, walking back to the black limo that awaited them, courtesy of her grandmother. Dino rubbed the back of his head, following after him.

"Now now, Kyoya, I told you, you can't just go around…" his voice faded as he stepped into the awaiting vehicle after Hibari. Ren watched the two disappear before turning to bid her friends good-bye. She was tackled by the small child that was Honey.

"Ren-chan! Don't leave! He scares me! Don't leave Ren-chan! We'll never see you again if you leave!" he wailed, flinging his arms around her neck, effectively soaking her shirt. Ren patted his back awkwardly.

"I-it's alright, Honey-senpai. I'll be back. Remember? I'm gonna hang-out with you guys tomorrow-"

"THEN WE'LL BE THERE BRIGHT AND EARLY TO SAVE YOU FROM THAT BRUTE~!" Tamaki exclaimed, gathering her up in a hug as well, the twins joining.

"T-tamaki-senpai! He's just here for dinner! My grandma just wants to meet-"

"Miss Ren, Hibari-san is getting quite annoyed at our delay. He wishes to be off quickly." Romario appeared behind her, quite uncomfortable himself. She paled and quickly untangled herself from the 4 hugging her tightly. They blinked at her. Romario led her toward the waiting limo, closing the door behind her. She sat stiffly beside Dino as it pulled away from the school, Hibari sitting across from them. He looked utterly bored. Ren was thankful he didn't speak the entire ride to her grandma's- correction, her home.

* * *

"Ah, so this is Kyoya Hibari. I've been expecting you; please, come this way," Tomiko was waiting at the door when they arrived. Hibari glanced at her before walking through the door, passing her. When Ren was about to pass her as well, she pulled her aside. "Well well well! Isn't he cute?"

"G-grandma!"

"He'd make a wonderful husband, I'm sure! I'm great at reading people!"

"Grandma!" Tomiko laughed at Ren's face, leading her down the hall where Hibari was already waiting in a sitting room, his arms crossed and glaring out a window.

"Please, Kyoya. Sit down." She indicated to the many couches and he sat down on one stiffly, watching them carefully. Tomiko situated herself on a couch across from him, pulling Ren down beside her. Dino stood, smiling, near the arm of the couch Tomiko was leaning against. "Now, as I understand, you wish for Ren to return to Namimori, right?"

"Correct."

"Well! We'll discuss this after dinner! It's always such a bore to do it before and go to dinner in a foul mood! Right now, I just wanna get to know you, Kyoya, is that quite alright? Yes? Perfect!" she clapped her hands together and Hibari was wondering if she had something wrong with her head. "So, I'd like to know about you; How old are you, dear?" Hibari stiffened at the pet name and narrowed his gaze. Ren almost fainted.

"16."

"Oh my~ Just a few years older than my little Ren! Well isn't that just perfect!" Hibari was starting to get a bit suspicious. "And what grade are you in? Oh yes! That's right~! You're a grade below Ren, seeing as she just jumped another one! And you go to Namimori~! Are you in a committee there?" Ren was actually rather surprised he was answering her grandmother.

"I'm the Chairman of the Discipline Committee."

"Oh my~! Sounds wonderful~! The Chairman of a committee!" Ren stared at her grandmother in horror, but Tomiko looked like she was having the time of her life.

And now Hibari was _very_ suspicious.

Roland opened the door and bowed to them. "Madame, dinner is ready." Tomiko rose fluidly, taking Ren with her.

"Ah, thank you Roland. Well? Shall we?" She glided from the room, Ren tightly gripped by the wrist following her. Dino followed after them indicating for Hibari to follow. Hibari glared, but followed after the blonde.

* * *

Ren escaped to her room half-way through dinner. She closed and locked the door tightly, leaning against it.

Dinner had been utterly terrible. Tomiko had insisted on continuing to get to know Hibari better and kept asking him the most random questions, ones that simply popped into her head that she voiced to her dinner companions. _Twice_ Dino had almost choked when Tomiko asked Hibari 1. How long he knew Ren, and then 2. If he intended to marry her. For the first question, Hibari answered simply; 3 years he had known her. To the second answer, he gave a blunt 'no'. Tomiko pouted and asked why not, similar to how a child would and Hibari found him restraining himself. She asked if he was dating her, to which he gave another 'no'. She asked if he ever kissed her, to which he replied 'no' quite firmly. She raised an eyebrow and gave a sly smile at him.

"Did she refuse your proposition of courting?" And Ren had promptly run from the room to her own room, where she had just locked herself in.

"Gaaaah, grandma…" she whined, flopping onto her bed.

And then there was a sharp ring in the air and she screamed, falling off her bed onto the floor. The ring continued and she peeked over the top of her bed to see her phone lit up; someone was calling her.

She hit herself in the forehead and reached for it, seeing who called. It wasn't a number she knew.

"H-hello?"

"_Ah! Ren, my Darling!"_ the voice sang, echoing around the walls. She winced at the volume.

"T-tamaki-senpai?"

"_Oh wonderful! I knew you'd recognize me! Has your grandmother given her consent for your visit with us tomorrow?" _ She shook her head, not that he could see it, and went to the door.

"I haven't asked. We have a guest tonight." She opened her bedroom door and there stood Hibari. She froze.

"_Oh yes! I remember! That terrible brute from earlier! Ah, what was his name? Hibuki? No, no, that's not it… now what was it? Hisari?" _

"H-hibari-san…" she whispered as the teen glared down at her.

"_Ah! Yes! That's right! Hibari! What an awful brute! Don't worry, Ren my Darling, my Love! We won't ever let you return to that dreaded school! Mark my words, Ren dear! We shall protect you from the brute! We shall not ever harm you again! We, the Hosts of Ouran Acedmy will give our lives for you, so never fea-"_

"I-I have to go, T-t-tamaki-senpai…"

"_What? My dear, whatever is the matter? Oh don't tell me that brute has-"_ and she quickly closed her phone, disconnecting the call.

* * *

Oh deary my~ How much do I love Hibari's random popping ups? So very much~


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: KHR! And OHSHC do not belong to me in the least.

* * *

Ren stared at Hibari, utterly afraid for her life as she quickly stowed her phone in her pocket. Hibari stood in-front of her, arms crossed, obviously annoyed. She looked away, suddenly having the idea that direct eye contact might not be the best idea she's ever had. "Herbivore."

"H-hai?!" her voice was a squeak.

* * *

Tamaki looked down blankly at the silent phone in his hand. The screen was that of him and the hosts, his best friends. Come to think of it, he was going to have to update it and get Ren in ther-

"OH NO! REN'S IN TROUBLE!"

Quickly dialing a number he knew well, he waited anxiously until a familiar voice answered. "_Hel-" _

"KYOUYA! REN'S IN TROUBLE! IT'S THAT BRUTE, HIBARI!"

"_...Tamaki…" _

"THERE'S NO TIME TO WASTE! WE MUST GET THERE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!"

"_Tamaki, it's 5 o'clock. It's not even dark outside ye-" _

"QUICKLY KYOUYA! I'LL CALL EVERYONE ELSE!" and then Tamaki disconnected the call, quickly dialing the twins. He knew they would be over in a matter of minutes. They seemed to like Ren as much as he did.

"_Yo, Boss. What's up?" _

"IT'S REN! SHE'S IN TROUBLE! IT'S THAT HIBARI GUY!"

"_WHAT?!" _two voices yelled back. "_WE'LL BE THERE IN 10 MINUTES!"_ They hung up quickly and Tamaki dialed the next number, Honey's.

"Honey-senpai! It's Ren! That Hibari fellow did something!" he told the smaller teen over the phone and there was a gasp.

"_No! Not Ren-chan! Don't worry Tama-chan! We'll be over in a few minutes!" _Honey told the other blonde and Tamaki smiled.

"Good! The twins are on their way and Kyouya as well! I'll phone Haruhi!" and he hung up on his senpai, dialing another number.

"_**Hello. This is the Fujioka residence. We're not able to answer the phone rig-**__ Hello?" _The answering machine was interrupted by Haruhi when she picked up the phone. "_Can I help you?"_

"Haruhi! It's terrible!" Tamaki cried, clutching the phone in his hand. "It's terrible, Haruhi! Really terrible!" A sigh was heard and the blonde blinked.

"_Senpai, if you're out of something, you don't call me. you tell the housekeeper." _

"IT'S NOT ABOUT FOOD! IT'S ABOUT REN!"

"_I'm sure she's fine. She's having dinner with her cousin." _

"AND THAT BRUTE!"

"_Oh. Yea, and him. I forgot about him. I'm positive everything's fine. Bye Senpai."_ And Tamaki was shocked to find Haruhi did in-fact hang up on him. He crumbled to the ground, crying. His phone lay forgotten on the carpet.

"Haruhi! How could you do that to Daddy?! What has happened to my little girl?!" he wailed. The door to his room open and Honey burst in, Mori walking calmly behind him.

"Tama-chan! We're here!" Honey said, stopping to blink at their fallen leader. "Tama-chan? Aren't we going to Ren-chan's?"

"Right! We have to wait for the twins and Kyouya! When they appear, we shall leave, picking up Haruhi on the way!" Tamaki declared, standing straight, hand clenched in a determined fist. "Our poor Ren! I can't even think of what he's done! It's too much to bear!" his free arm went over his eyes in a hopeless manner. "The poor girl!"

"We're here Boss!" The twins appeared in the door, Kyouya behind them looking very annoyed.

"Great! Now, off to get Haruhi!"

* * *

"Senpai, I told you. She's fine. If he did try anything, there's her cousin and the servants in her house. She's fine." Haruhi stated from the front door, looking up at Tamaki and the twins beside him.

"But-"

"Senpai, we're having dinner. Come back another time." Tamaki saw Ranka glaring at him from the table, his eyes dark. Tamaki's smile turned uneasy as he shifted his gaze back to Haruhi.

"B-but Haruhi! She could be in danger! Please!" Tamaki begged her. Haruhi sighed, looking over her shoulder at her father.

"Sorry Dad. I'll be back in about half an hour?" Ranka smiled at his daughter.

"But Haruhi, we were spending some quality time together as a father and daughter~!" His gaze turned to Tamaki, who backed away quickly. "Must you really go?" Haruhi sighed again, turning back toward Tamaki. The blonde nodded furiously.

"Sorry Dad. I'll get home as soon as possible." Ranka deflated, slumping against the table.

"Alright Haruhi…"

* * *

Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Honey had their faces plastered against the windows, watching desperately for the Kuroki house to come into view. "Kyouya, are we almost there?" Tamaki whined, his face never leaving the window.

Kyouya sighed. "We should be coming up to it in about 10 minutes, Tamaki."

"There she is!" Kaoru jabbed a finger at the window, pointing to the sidewalk. They were 3 miles or so from the Kuroki mansion.

Everyone looked out the tinted windows to see Ren walking cheerfully down the sidewalk, the boy (brute)Hibari walking beside her, his arms crossed and his eyes looking ahead determinedly.

A window was rolled down quickly.

"DON'T WORRY REN! WE'LL SAVE YOU!"

She jumped, bumping into Hibari who had turned to look at the loud noise. Hikaru and Kaoru were already out of the car, running toward them, Honey not far behind.

Tamaki had been trampled when he was in the process of opening the door…

Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously and Ren's eyes shifted to his figure before returning to the twins and the blonde child who were running toward her, getting nearer every second.

And then her phone rang.

The twins and Honey were almost to her, Hibari drew out his tonfas, and Ren was standing in the middle of it all...

So she did what any 14-year-old would do in her place. She spread her arms out, signaling 'stop' to both Hibari and the trio. The twins and Honey skidded to a halt and looked at her in confusion, Mori and Tamaki appearing behind them. Hibari's eyes remained narrowed and his tonfas were still out.

"Don't worry, Ren-chan! We'll protect you!" Tamaki declared. Ren heard a sigh and looked over Haruhi who stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head. Ren noticed her phone still ringing and fished it out of the pocket of her jacket.

"Tamaki-senpai, let me take this and then we can talk… H-hibari-san?"

"Get it over with quickly." Ren nodded, flipping it open. She didn't even get out a hello when the voice on the other line started yelling.

"_REN! WHERE ARE YOU?! WE MISS YOU TO THE EXTREME! ARE YOU BACK YET?!" _Ren winced from the volume, her phone actually vibrating in her hand as she held it away from her ear. "_REN! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?! ARE YOU COMING HOME?!" _

"O-onii-san! Please! Stop yelling! You're hurting my ears!" she pleaded, stepping away from the middle of the group.

"_REN! YOU'RE ALRIGHT! WHERE ARE YOU?! AREN'T YOU COMING HOME?!" _

"R-ryohei, I'm on my way, it's alright. Yes, I'm fine. H-hibari-san's been taking care of me-"

"_GOOD JOB HIBARI! I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU!"_ Ren winced once again and noticed Hibari's eye twitched. "_REN?! YOU THERE?!"_

Y-yes, I'm here! Please stop yelling, Ryohei! If it makes you feel any better, I'm on…" Ren scanned the nearby street signs for any indication of the street they were on. "Oh, I'm on Kashiwa Drive."

"_Where's Kashiwa drive?" _Ren gave a sigh of relief that the volume wasn't making her ears hurt.

"About 28 miles away from Namimori."

"_RIGHT! I'LL BE THERE IN 15 MINUTES! DON'T MOVE!" _

"B-but Ryohei, I can't just-"

"_8 MINUTES THEN! I'LL RUN TO THE EXTREME!" _

"R-ryohei! Don't do that!"

"_I'M ON MY WAY!"_ and Ren looked at the phone in despair when he disconnected the call, presumably because he was on his way to where she was… She sighed, putting the phone away in her pocket and stepping toward Hibari. He eyed her and slowly put away his tonfas.

"Tamaki-senpai. My grandma agreed to let me return to Namimori on the weekends. I'm returning home. I'm sorry abou-"

"But Ren-chan! We were gonna hang-out tomorrow!" Honey wailed, launching himself at the younger girl, much to Hibari's annoyance. Ren quietly patted his back, aware of Hibari's glare on her.

"I'm sorry, Honey-senpai. Really. We can hang out Sunday afternoon. I'll be back at noon, so, how about at 2?" He looked up at her with watery eyes.

"B-but Ren-chan!" She gave a slight smile.

"Hibari-san? May I take a few minutes to settle this with them?"

"Finish it quickly. I'm getting tired of the crowding." And he walked a ways down the sidewalk, disappearing around a corner.

"Right. Honey-sen-"

"You can't leave Ren! We might never see you again!" Tamaki wailed, clinging to her as well. She was startled at the sudden addition of the twins as well.

"Yes Ren!"

"We don't know what he'll do to you!" She sweatdropped.

"U-um, guys, really. Hibari-san wouldn't do anything…" She pushed them off her, but Honey continued clinging to her leg for dear life. "Honey-senpai. It's just for 2 days. Besides, I'm not gonna be with Hibari the whole time. I'm gonna be with Tsuna-fish and them." Honey looked back up at her with teary eyes.

"B-but R-ren-chan! We won't know if you're alright! You might get hurt!" Honey wailed, clinging to her leg all the tighter.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" _I always get hurt some way or another anyway. Nothing new about that… "_I've known Tsuna-fish for awhile and Dino trusts him. And Re- ah, well, there's others there that can protect me if something happens…" _Like if Gokudera tries to get me back with his dynamite for kissing him…_

"But, Ren, there's always the possibly of someone not being around and something was to happen," Tamaki said, stepping forward and resting a hand on her shoulder. She sighed.

"I'll be quite fine. I've always been fine in Namimori. Nothing's ever happened." _Nothing's that I couldn't overcome._ "Besides! Ryohei's gonna be there!"

Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru leaned forward, eyeing her. "This… Ryohei fellow. What's he like?" Tamaki asked with a brow raised. The twins nodded.

"Yea, what's he like?" Ren blinked, wondering how she would describe one of her best friends.

"Well… Ryohei's… interesting…" she trailed off, trying to think of something else to say as they waited for her. "He's different…and uni-"

"_HIBARI! WHERE'S REN?!" _She blinked, pulling away from the three, Honey finally letting go of her leg. It hadn't been eight minutes… had it? How could he have…?

"Ryohei?" Ren called. A figure appeared around the corner, a very out of breath figure.

"REN! I FOUND YOU TO THE EXTREME!" and he starting running toward her, tackling her into a hug, sending the both of them rolling to the ground. "WE ALL MISSED YOU! KYOKO'S BEEN SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU! AND I MISS MY SPARRING PARTNER TO THE EXTREME!"

"Ryohei! I can't breathe!" she was able to gasp out and he blinked down at her before he let go and sat on the ground next to where she was currently sprawled on the ground. She took a few moments to regain her breathing before sitting up.

"GREAT! YOU'RE FEELING BETTER! WE CAN GO BACK TO NAMIMORI NOW! LET'S GO!" he hefted her to her feet, pulling her down the sidewalk. "WE SHALL CALL THIS TRAINING AND JOG BACK!"

"Ryohei! I can't jog 28 miles!" she cried, pulling from his grasp and staring at him incredulously.

"Why not?" He didn't notice the stares from the Host Club.

"Ryohei! Hibari-san and I were gonna catch a bus!"

"No we weren't, Herbivore." She turned to look at Hibari standing behind Ryohei, obviously annoyed that this was taking longer than was really necessary. "The Bronco was out doing something and said he would take us. There's too much crowding on a bus." Ren blinked.

"Oh. Alright. Ryohei. We're going back with Dino."

"THEN I SHALL JOIN YOU TO THE EXTREME!" Ren sighed, shaking her head.

"I was gonna ask you to join us anyway. I highly doubt you could run back to Namimori…" Ryohei took her by the hand, leading her back down the sidewalk, Hibari leading the way. She blinked before looking back at where the Host Club still stood. "Ah, bye guys! I'll see you Sunday!" She waved to them before Ryohei dragged her out of sight.

Tamaki, the Twins and Honey stared at where she had disappeared.

"What just happened?"

"We have no clue Boss." The twins answered in unison.

"R-ren-chan…" Honey whimpered. A sigh was heard and then slight footsteps.

"See senpai? I told you she was fine. There was no need to be alarmed." Haruhi told him.

"I quite agree with Haruhi," Kyouya voiced his opinion. "There was no need to drag me into this. She was perfectly fine." Tamaki was silent a moment before throwing a fist in the air.

"It's decided then! We shall go to Namimori and watch over Ren until she returns here!" He declared, the twins and Honey cheering. Haruhi stared at him before shaking her head, crossing her arms.

"Senpai, I know you feel the need to watch over her like a father, but, give it up. She'll be fine with her friends." She stated, her gaze darkening.

"Again, I agree with Haruhi." Kyouya added, pushing his glasses up. "I see no need to go-"

"GREAT! SO WE'LL ALL GO!"

* * *

HAH. This is gonna be so much fun~


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: KHR! And OHSHC do not belong to me in the least.

* * *

"Kyoko! Ren's here!" Ryohei yelled into the house, startling his younger sister. Kyoko turned and saw them standing in the doorway, Ryohei with a huge grin on his face, and Ren with a frown on her's, ready to start scolding him for dragging her there.

"Ren-chan!" Ren saw tears in her eyes and she stopped glowering at her brother, choosing instead to go forward and hug her tightly. "Ren-chan, we've missed you so much!" she sniffed, burying her head in the brunette's shoulder.

"Ah, Kyoko-chan, it's only been 2 days!"

"Still!" she looked up at her with watery eyes. Ren flashed a grin and Kyoko smiled too. "We've really missed you. It's not the same!"

"I've missed you guys too. My new school is scary! Everyone is always looking at me…" Kyoko laughed and linked her arm with Ren's.

"Come on! Let's go get my room set up!"

"Hey! What about me?!" Ryohei exclaimed. Kyoko blinked before grinning at him brightly.

"Thank you, Onii-san!" He beamed and Ren swore she saw light surrounding him. Kyoko led her up the stairs to her room where they would set up the sleeping bag for her to spend the night.

* * *

"Is she doing anything?"

"Boss, they're in the chick's room, setting up a sleeping bag." Hikaru sighed, resting his chin in his hand, letting the binoculars fall to his lap. "Boss, don't tell me we're staying out here all night? How're we gonna be able to keep track of her tomorrow?" Kaoru nodded and the twins looked at the leader, who was deep in thought.

"Right! We'll call it a night and return home! We'll be out here bright and early for tomorrow morning!" The twins stared at him before sighing.

"Whatever you say Boss." Haruhi gave a deep sigh, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Tamaki-senpai, I still think she'll be fine. I mean, they're going to bed soon and-"

"_Ren! Spar with me!" _

"_Ryohei! It's 9 o'clock! It's too late for sparring!" _

"_Spar with me! I haven't had a good opponent since you left! Ren!" _A thud was heard and then the front door opened. The Ouran Hosts hid, peering out into the yard where Ren, Ryohei, and the other girl stood.

"Onii-san! You said you wouldn't fight!"

"It's not fighting Kyoko! It's sparring! And it's just with Ren!" Ryohei laughed, giving the orange-haired girl, Kyoko, a one armed hug. Kyoko frowned before shaking her head and smiling.

"Alright. I'll go get the first aid kit. Ren-chan, I'm sure you'll calm him down like you always do." Kyoko went into the house, closing the door. Ryohei grinned at Ren and she put her hands on her hips.

"Ryohei, you left the first aid kit at school again, didn't you?" Ren questioned him. Ryohei paused before laughing.

"Sorry! I forgot again!" Ren shook her head, sitting down defiantly on the grass.

"I'm not sparring with you, Ryohei. Tomorrow, okay?" She looked up at Ryohei and he pouted, sitting down in the grass beside her.

"Fine… TOMORROW THEN!" Ren raised a brow, turning to face him.

"So, why're we still outside?" Ryohei grinned at her brightly.

"We're gonna plan our future!"

"EEHH?!"

Behind the bushes where the Hosts were hiding, the twins were restrained by Kyouya and Honey while Tamaki was restrained by Mori. Their mouths were sealed as well.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'WE'RE GONNA PLAN OUR FUTURE'?!" Ren cried, moving away from him quickly. He blinked at her curiously before tilting his head to the side.

"Well, I mean, what're we gonna do in life? We gotta plan ahead you know!" Ryohei laughed and Ren gave a sigh of relief. "I'm gonna be the greatest champion of all time!" he declared, clenching his hand into a determined fist. "I'll be the best!"

"And you'll always protect Kyoko~!" Ren chimed in. Ryohei nodded, a blush on his features.

"OF-COURSE! SHE'S THE ONLY SISTER I HAVE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! THAT'S A GIVEN!" Ren smiled, laughing a bit. "What'd you wanna do?" And here she stopped laughing, instead looking up at the sky.

"What I wanna do…? I don't know. Be with you guys forever, I guess. Make sure those freaks never hurt my friends again. I like my new friends at my new school too, but…" Ryohei patted her shoulder.

"RIGHT! FRIENDS FOREVER THEN! KYOKO! FOOD!" he jogged into the house, toward the kitchen where he knew Kyoko would be. Ren stood up slowly, brushing herself off before walking calmly back in as well.

"Y_ou aren't hurt, are you?" _

"_Ren could never hurt me!" _

"_Don't lie! I've hit you before! Anyway, Kyoko-chan, we should head to bed soon. I plan on waking up early so we can meet up with the gang!" _

"_That sounds like fun, Ren-chan! We can meet with Haru-chan and go shopping!"_ The hosts sighed and Tamaki and the twins were released. They glared at the house accusingly. "_Onii-san, you should go to bed too!" _

"_Right, Kyoko! Ren! You're training with me in the morning, right?!" _

"_No way! You're crazy with your training!" _

"_Ren!" _

"_No!" _

"_Onii-san!" _

"_What?!" _Haruhi sighed, shaking her head.

"We should probably leave, Tamaki-senpai. Like you said, we need to be here bright and early." She looked blankly at Tamaki, who was glaring at the house as if it just killed his cat. "Tamaki-senpai? Come on. We should-"

"Our poor dear Ren! She's stuck with that maniac!" he wailed and Haruhi patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry. She's fine. I still don't understand why we have to be here…"

"Right! We'll be here bright and early tomorrow then!" Tamaki declared. "Alright, everyone back in the car, come on now~ Time to leave~!" Haruhi bonked him upside the head as she passed and Kyouya shot him an annoyed look.

* * *

Ren opened her eyes sleepily when her phone buzzed. Yawning, she reached for it, turning off the alarm. "Nyah, Kyoko-chan, I'm gonna get up," she whispered. The other girl simply snuggled deeper into the blankets. "Hm. Kay then." Ren crawled to the door, being as quiet as she could. She opened the door quietly, standing up and slipping out before closing it behind her. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head before walking to where she had a duffel bag in the bathroom waiting for her. She closed the door to the bathroom behind her, quickly getting a shower and then changing into the cameo khaki shorts and black tank-top.

By the time she walked out, Kyoko was up and waiting for her in the hallway. Kyoko smiled at her friend, passing her to go into the bathroom and take a shower herself. "Breakfast is on the table," the girl informed her before closing the door. Ren grinned, walking downstairs to where she could smell the pancakes. Ryohei was down there waiting for her… in his jogging clothes.

"Ren! Shall we be off?!" Ren gave him a blank look.

"I'm intent on eating breakfast first, thank you." Ryohei gave a sigh, slumping down at the table and watching through bored eyes as Ren seated herself and got a pancake, cutting it up before putting some syrup over it.

"But Ren… you eat so slowly…" he whined. She ignored him, eating her pancake in silence.

* * *

"Ren-chan!" Ren and Kyoko turned to see the other brown-haired female jogging toward them.

"Haru-chan!" Ren and Haru hugged tightly, the latter shedding some tears. Ren smiled at her friend, giving her a tissue. Haru took it gratefully and blew her nose.

"Ren-chan! Haru was so upset when you couldn't say good-bye!" the girl cried, hugging Ren once more. Ren patted her back gently and Kyoko smiled.

"I'm sorry Haru-chan. My grandma came early and I had to leave. I really wanted to say bye, but Grandma was in a hurry." She said as Haru pulled away, dabbing at her eyes.

"Sorry, Ren-chan. I don't know what came over me!" Haru said, smiling brightly. "Haru really missed you! Even if it's only been a few days!" Kyoko nodded, giving her friend a hug in greeting.

"Mmhm! Tsuna-kun missed you too, even though he's been hiding it from everyone, us girls can tell." Kyoko stated and Ren frowned lightly.

"Tsuna-fish? Oh, poor Tsuna-fish… I didn't wanna leave Namimori, but…" Ren trailed off and Kyoko and Haru looked at each other before looking at their friend.

"It's alright, Ren-chan. We understand. Ah, Tsuna-san wanted to meet up at the park today! We should hurry, Ren-chan!" Haru said. Ren came out of her thoughts and beamed brightly.

"Right! Ryohei! Come on! We're leaving!" she called back to the house. The door flung open, the teen flying out.

"FINALLY! LET'S GO THEN!" and he went down the street at a run. Ren, Kyoko, and Haru stood in the middle of the street, blinking after him.

"Onii-san?" Kyoko murmured before sighing. "I hope he doesn't run into anything. When he gets all excited, he tends to crash into things." Ren gave a light laugh. She knew exactly what the girl meant. She had been what he had crashed into most of the time.

"Well. We should go before he wonders where we are, right? Kyoko? Haru?" Ren decided, turning to her friends. The two nodded and they set off down the street.

On the other side of the street, behind the corner, 4 heads poked out, watching the girls go. The blonde leader watched them intently. "I don't believe those two are into anything dangerous, but, the others they're talking about… well… hmm…" Tamaki held his chin in thought and the twins and Honey turned to him.

"So what're we gonna do, boss?" they asked in unison, Honey nodding in agreement.

"We'll follow them and stick to the plan!" he declared. Behind him, Haruhi scoffed.

"What plan?" Tamaki turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"My dear Haruhi. What plan? Why, our original plan of watching over our dear little Ren. That plan. We need to ensure her safety. As the Hosts of Ouran Academy, we most watch out for one of-"

"Alright Senpai. I get it. We stalk her and her friends all day until she gets back to Ouran." Haruhi sighed, cutting the blonde off. Tamaki, the twins and Honey looked appalled.

"Haruhi! I'm ashamed! Stalk? Never! We're simply following at a distance to make sure no harm comes her way!" Tamaki reprimanded her. She shook her head.

"Haruhi! We would never partake in that disreputable act!" Hikaru exclaimed. Kaoru wagged a finger.

"Haruhi, I thought you knew better. When we get home we'll have to teach you about these things." Haruhi gave the two a blank look before pressing her fingertips against her temple.

"If we get home…" Tamaki held a fist in the air in triumph.

"Men, we shall make sure no harm comes to Ren! We shall protect her with our lives if necessary! Move out!"

* * *

"Tsuna-fish!" The brunette turned and smiled when he saw the 3 girls waving. Ren went ahead of them, hugging Tsuna tightly. His face gained a blush and he hugged back akwardly. "I missed you guys so much! Even if it's only been like 3 days!" Ren said after pulling away from the male. Tsuna nodded.

"Yea, we've missed you too, Ren-chan. It hasn't been the same without you." He agreed.

"Tch." Tsuna looked over at Gokudera who was glaring at Ren. "It's been quiet for once." He added. Tsuna looked back quickly at Ren. The girl looked deep in thought. Gokudera raised a brow, but didn't say anything else. Ren snapped her finger and smiled cheerfully.

"Ah; I get it. You're embarrassed about the kiss! Ah, don't worry, it didn't mean anything! You don't have to be embarrassed, Gokudera-kun!" she sang. The silver headed male growled, glaring at her furiously.

"Why you…!" he got out a few sticks of dynamite and Ren blinked.

"A-ah, Gokudera-kun, we wouldn't wanna m-make a scene! Come on! I apologize for embarrassing you, I truly didn't mean too!" she said quickly as he lit them.

"Ah! Gokudera-kun! Not here!" Tsuna protested quickly, stepping in-front of his friend. Gokudera stopped, the dynamite disappearing.

"Hai Tenth~!" the male sang, ignoring Ren. She gave a sigh of relief and went over to Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto-kun, hi." He grinned, ruffling her hair.

"Yo, Ren! How ya been? I hear you're going to this fancy school now. How do ya like it?" Ren shrugged. Tsuna turned away from Gokudera to look at her as well.

"Yea, Ren-chan. How is your new school?" Gokudera reluctantly paid attention to the conversation since his precious Tenth was interested in it. Ren made a slight face and Haru held in a laugh.

"It's different. There's no Disciplnary Committee for one thing." Tsuna's eyes grew wide.

"What? That sounds amazing!" he had visions of all the times he had been beaten up by Hibari and shuddered. Ren shrugged again.

"Yea, well. I'm a in a class where everyone is older… And everyone's always staring at me because I still have to wear Namimori's uniform."

Why's that, Ren-chan?" Kyoko asked, curious. Ren looked over at her friend.

"My uniform for Ouran isn't ready yet." And this is where Gokudera joined the conversation.

"Ouran? You mean Ouran Academy?" Ren blinked but nodded all the same. Gokudera furrowed his brow, looking her up and down quickly. "You're attending one of the most elite schools in all of Japan?" Ren stared at him while everyone else stared at her.

"You're kidding. Grandma just said it was for rich kids… she didn't say anything about an elite school!" she cried. Gokudera rolled his eyes.

"A-ah! Really? You're going to an elite school? That's great Ren-chan!" Tsuna congratulated the girl who was leaning heavily against Kyoko, the latter patting her back gently.

"I wasn't told anything! How come no one tells me anything?! I didn't even know I was living with grandma until 4 days before I was to move! No one tells me anything!" she wailed, her head on Kyoko's shoulder. Kyoko continued patting her back.

"It's alright Ren-chan. Is it really all that bad? I thought you like surprises?"

"BUT NOT LIKE THIS!" The brunette sighed, moving off the orange-haired girl to take a deep breath before slumping her shoulders a bit. "…Sorry. I think I got a bit carried away…" she gave an uneasy laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

A bit down the street, Tamaki was wailing onto the shoulder of Haruhi. "Haruhi! Our poor Ren! She's hanging out with a violent delinquent! And those others boys don't look much better! We have to save her, Haruhi! We just have to!" he cried and Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"Senpai. We're just observing, remember? We aren't gonna make any contact with her. And when she returns home, we can't talk to her about this." She reminded him. He nodded tearfully while the twins and Honey glared at the group viciously.

Ren blinked, looking around quickly. "Hey, I might be paranoid, but, does anyone else get the sensation that we're being followed?" she asked the group. They looked over at her, shaking their heads.

"Nope. Ren-chan, have you been getting enough sleep?" Haru asked the other brunette. Ren shrugged.

"Kay. Just thought I'd get that off my chest." Tsuna tilted his head slightly to the side, thinking.

"No… I feel it too. Like we're being watched…"

"Correct, No-Good Tsuna," a small voice said and Tsuna yelped, jumping a few feet in the air before falling to the ground, clutching at his chest. Reborn smirked down at him from Yamamoto's shoulder. "Hello Ren."

"Reborn! I missed you! I liked having you randomly appear all the time!" she squealed, hugging the child tightly and rubbing her cheek against his. He smiled as Tsuna slowly struggled to his feet, breathing heavily.

"Reborn! You can't just appear out of nowhere like that!" Tsuna cried, but the infant wasn't listening. "Reborn!"

"Shut-up, No-Good Tsuna," Reborn chided, Leon transforming into his handgun. Tsuna yelped, falling to the ground, eyes wide, backing away slowly. Ren shook her head lightly.

"Reborn, don't threaten Tsuna-fish. He just doesn't like surprises." Reborn gave a curt nod, Leon returning to his original form. Tsuna gave a sigh of relief, Gokudera helping him up. "Now! Let's go to Mama's resturaunt!" Ren declared. Haru and Kyoko nodded. Tsuna nodded, Gokudera looking the other way with Ryohei and Yamamoto grinning. "Wait… Where's Lambo?"

Back with the Hosts, Kyouya noticed the child in the cow suit wandering around. He raised a brow, adjusting his glasses as he saw the other two children with him, a dirty blonde haired boy and a little Chinese girl. Haruhi noticed as well and she bent to be nearer to the cow child's height. "Hey little boy. Are you lost?" she asked him. He looked up at her.

"Shalala Lambo-san heard Ren-chan was coming home, but Lambo-san can't find her…" the blonde boy looked over as well, holding the Chinese girl's hand.

"Ren-nee-chan was coming home, but, Tsuna-nii left without taking us with him… Bianchi-nee-san also disappeared…" he said sadly. Haruhi looked up at Kyouya.

"Kyouya-senpai. They're Ren's family apparently."

"Apparently…" he sighed. "Little boy, what does this 'Bianchi' look like? Perhaps if we find her we won't have to get involved." Kyouya raised a questioning brow and the boy pursed his lips.

"Bianchi-nee-san? Hmm…" the little girl suddenly pointed down the street.

"Ah! Bianchi sighted!" the two boys looked down the street as well, catching sight of (presumably) their older sister.

"Ah! Bianchi-nee-san!" the blonde boy grabbed the cow child's hand and they shot off, Haruhi slowly rising to her feet. They watched as a pink-haired teen their age turned and smiled at the children, crouching down to their height. Few words were said and then she gripped the blonde boy's hand, the boy holding onto the girl's hand and the girl holding onto the other boys hand. They went down the street toward the group, the children breaking away when they caught sight of Ren. She turned, her face lighting up when she saw them, quickly giving them hugs. Kyouya noticed that the silver haired boy who had threatened Ren earlier looked at the pink haired teen, paled, then collapsed.

Ren looked down at Gokudera before crouching down beside him. "Hey, Gokudera-kun? You alright there?" He groaned and she shrugged. "Hm. Maybe he was really hungry?" Kyoko nodded.

"Yes, that must be it. Poor Gokudera-kun. He didn't even tell us." She murmured sadly. Yamamoto laughed, him and Ryohei hefting the boy to his feet and wrapping his arms around each of their shoulders, ultimately dragging him along toward Mama's restaurant.

* * *

Ah, Bianchi~ How we love thee~

Well, this is coming along quite well!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me. Sadly.

* * *

Ren looked back to make sure her friends were behind them. She had convinced Bianchi to wear a pair of sunglasses, so, Gokudera was fine by now, standing on his own, but still a little wobbly. Ren gulped and she shifted her gaze to Haru and Kyoko, the two girls smiling and nodding at their friend. Ren nodded in return, gathering up her courage to open the door to Mama's restaurant. The little bell over head jingled, but as always, the restaurant was noisy and crowded with people, for it was a popular little place. Ren took a deep breath before grinning hugely. "Mama! I'm home!"

And the world went quiet.

This quiet lasted for a few minutes as everyone turned to gaze at her. Many eyes watched as she walked slowly, so slowly, toward the kitchen.

A crash from the kitchen(a pan falling) and a woman who was almost identical to Ren came out, her hands gripping a towel. The only real difference was that this woman's hair was chopped short, reaching about half-way down her neck instead of half-way down her back and she was older. "R-ren?" the woman whispered and the man behind the cash register who looked frighteningly similar to Ren's grandmother stepped forward as well. Ren's grin widened.

"Mama, I'm back, just like I said I would." And the woman gave a sob, flinging herself at the girl, the man coming forward to grip the two tightly in an embrace as everyone in the restaurant cheered; for Ren was home with her mother and father, for now at-least, and they had all missed seeing her the past few days.

"Everyone!" Takumi called and the cheering quieted. "My daughter is back! This is a cause for celebration!" the cheering erupted again for they all knew the policy at Mama's. A celebration meant free food. That was just the way it was. A few of the staff went out into the street to call up and down the walk, telling everyone of the good news. Mama's filled by the minute and nobody noticed the group of 6 casually dressed young men(and a woman) in sunglasses who slipped into one of the few remaining open booths, watching the proceedings with keen interest. "I give thanks that she is returned to us for the time being! I also thank her friends who have brought her here safely!" Takumi indicated to Tsuna standing awkwardly with his group of friends. Everyone cheered for the youths, Tsuna's face turning red, the girls and Yamamoto laughing and Gokudera grinning brightly, crowing about how amazing his Tenth was and that this was nothing.

* * *

"Senpai," Haruhi said, raising her voice to be heard over the talk and laughter of the building. He turned to her, his eyes still gazing around him in wonder. "Senpai, are you sure it's alright to be here? I think we're too close; she might recognize us." Haruhi voiced her concern, but Tamaki waved it off.

"You worry too much, Haruhi. It'll be fine. She won't see us." He was watching as she laughed with her friends, leaning against the small, wimpy-looking brunette male for support, tears of mirth leaking from her eyes. He frowned and the Twins' expressions mirrored his own. "I'm still concerned about those friends of hers'…" he did state and Haruhi rolled her eyes. Honey was overwhelmed by all the food, simply delighted in the cake and sweets they had on stock. Kyouya took this time to jot down something or another in his little black book. Mori sat there silently. Haruhi rested her head in her hands, gazing around her quietly. She really hoped what her senpai said was true, that she wouldn't see them, but she was doubtful they would be that lucky. Something always went wrong in one of Tamaki's great plans. She had a feeling something would go wrong here too.

* * *

"Ren, I'm glad you're back!" Haru cheered, picking up another forkful of Mrs. Kuroki's famous cake. "It's always more fun with you around!" Kyoko nodded in agreement. Ren beamed at her friends.

"I'm glad to be back! I like Ouran well enough, but I'll miss you guys during the week. Ya know? Sometime I'll have to introduce you to my new friends! They're pretty cool, all upperclassmen, but pretty cool."Ren stated and her friends nodded in agreement.

Now, when Tamaki(with his super amazing awesome hearing) heard this, he glowed with happiness for we all very well know how much he enjoyed praise. He was just about ready to flit over there and give her a great hug when he was pulled back down by the sleeve. He looked at Kyouya with big puppy-dog eyes, but the black-haired male simply shook his head. "Now Tamaki. We've discussed this. No contact at-all what-so-ever. And I understood?"

"But Mommy! It's just not fair!" he wailed, arm over his eyes. "I want to give my little girl a hug! Why can't a father hug his own daughter whom he loves dearly?! Why?! How could you be so cruel?!" he cried and Kyouya rolled his eyes.

"Tamaki, keep your voice down. She'll hear you." Tamaki pouted, but sat down all the same. Ren had heard the wail and had just turned to see what the commotion was when the person sat down. His blonde hair looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it.

So, she simply shrugged and returned to her conversation with Kyoko. Haruhi gave a sigh of relief and gazed at Tamaki. "Tamaki-senpai, you were this close to getting us found out. This close." She held her thumb and pointer finger close together, indicating how close it was indeed. Tamaki waved her off.

"Ah, my dear Haruhi. It's fine." She shook her head, gazing at the menu in-front of her. "Now, shall we call over that nice waitress?" Tamaki suggested. Everyone nodded, ready to order their food. Tamaki raised a hand and the waitress was over in a matter of seconds. She grinned at the group brightly.

"Hey! What can I get ya? It's gonna be on the house today, so, go wild~!" she sang. Honey was the first to order, simply ordering many of their desserts. The waitress said she totally agreed; their desserts were just about the best she had ever had and she had travelled all around Japan. Honey's eyes widened and the Twins and Tamaki ordered next, some of the only Italian food on the menu and Tamaki simply ordered some ramen. Mori simply asked for water. Kyouya asked for some lemonade and Haruhi asked if they had any fancy tuna. The waitress paused before grinning and skipping off to the table where Ren was seated. She asked her something and Ren stood up, walking back to their table with the waitress. "Alright! Here we go! You guys get to meet the guest of honor! Ain't you lucky? Now, Ren-chan, this gentleman has a question." The waitress beckoned to Haruhi and they all gazed at Ren fearfully, for they were worried she might recognize them.

"Oh? What is it?" Haruhi shifted and looked up at her slowly.

"Do you have any… fancy tuna?" she asked quietly. Ren blinked, tapping her chin lightly.

"Fancy tuna…? Hmm, let's see here… I bet Mom can cook it up. Sure. It'll be fine. Is that all?" The Twins grinned at her, raising their hands. "Yea?" she looked over at them and they pointed at the menus.

"What do you recommend? For dessert?" The girl nodded.

"Dessert? Well, really I recommend anything! I myself like the chocolate peanut-butter cake. Anything else?" the waitress patted her shoulder and Ren returned to her table cheerfully. Tamaki frowned as she settled easily back into her seat and continued on where her conversation had left off. He didn't like how close she was to those boys; he especially didn't like how that silver-haired boy kept staring(glaring) at her. Haruhi noticed the signs, but decided to ignore him for now.

* * *

"Ren-chan, what do you say we go shopping?" Kyoko asked some time later. Ren looked up from her cupcake, nodding.

"Sure! That'd be great!" Kyoko smiled, turning to ask Haru if she wished to join them. Haru immediately agreed. "Tsuna-fish." Tsuna looked over at his friend. "Wanna come shopping with us?"

"E-eh? Shopping?" Ren nodded, a grin on her face.

"Yea! Why not?"

"Idiot. The Tenth doesn't go shopping," Gokudera scoffed. Ren gave him a blank look.

"Hayato." Gokudera froze, turning to look at his sister. She had taken off her glasses. His face turned pale and his arms went around his middle.

"Big S-sis…" and he fell from the chair, out-cold. Yamamoto laughed at him and Tsuna scampered over to where he was. Ren looked down at him before looking back at Tsuna.

"So, Tsuna-fish. Wanna come?"

* * *

"Now men!" Tamaki rallied his troops, standing around the corner of one of the many buildings. "We must watch over our dear little Ren while she is with those ruffians!" he declared, holding a fist up in triumph. The Twins gazed at each other before both raising the opposite hands.

"Hey, Boss?" they questioned in unison. "We don't think the girls and that wimpy brown-haired kid are really ruffians. Seriously, look at them. We're more con-"

"Silence! They're all together so they're all ruffians!" Tamaki insisted. The Twins shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Boss." The held their hands behind their heads, watching the group boredly. Haruhi leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. Mori stood silently while Honey sat on his shoulders, laughing at something or another. Kyouya was writing something down in his notebook. Tamaki gazed at them all critically before sighing.

"Well… I guess this is the best I can do. Can't you show some spirit?" he asked, resting his chin in his hand. The Twins pointed down the street.

"They're moving!" Tamaki jumped to the corner, looking out quickly. He watched as the group moved away, laughing.

"Ah! Quickly! We must not lose sight of them!" they raced down the street, stopping behind another corner and peering out at them. Ren was holding up a pink shirt to the orange-haired girl, murmuring something before giving a curt nod. The other brown-haired girl nodded as well and Ren looked over at Tsuna.

"Tsuna-fish, are you bored?" Ren asked him. He blinked before quickly shaking his head.

"No! I'm fine!" he answered quickly and she frowned.

"Tsuna-fish. Don't lie. Ah, Kyoko-chan, Haru-chan, let's go to the park!" she suddenly decided. The two girls nodded.

"Alright. Hold on while we finish here," they indicated to the shirts and then went to pay for them. Ren crossed her arms, smiling. Tsuna gave a sigh and looked over at Yamamoto and Ryohei. They didn't look too happy to be shopping, but, now that they were going to the park, they had perked up.

"Yamamoto-kun, do you think Gokudera-kun's alright?" Ren asked him after a moment.

"Hm? Gokudera? Ah, he's probably doing just fine! I mean after-all Bianchi's there with him!"

…

He obviously didn't see she was the entire cause of this. Ah, oblivion. Such a wonderful thing.

"Right. Bianchi is there with him." she said after a few moments of thinking.

"Ren! Let's go!" Ryohei exclaimed, pulling on her hand.

"Hey! Let's hold up for the girls!" she protested as he started dragging her away. The two females appeared then, laughing at Ren trying to get Ryohei to let her go. It was a failure.

Tamaki ground his teeth together, the Twins holding him back. "Easy Boss. It's alright," Hikaru told him.

"How dare he lay a hand on my little girl?! She's too young to be dating! Mommy! Tell them she's far too young!" he wailed, turning and clutching to Kyouya's shirt. Kyouya sighed.

"Yes, Daddy. She's far too young to be dating." Tamaki continued ranting on and on about how he was going to go and give him a firm talking to, stepping toward the street once again. The Twins and Honey tackled him, restraining him once again.

"Tamaki-senpai! I told you! We can't talk to her!" Haruhi scolded him. He looked at her with big eyes, his bottom lip jutting out.

"B-but Haruhi! She's can't like boys yet! She's too young!"

"Tamaki-senpai, she's fine." Tamaki clutched onto Kyouya once again.

"Kyouya! When did Haruhi get so rebellious?! Whatever happened to my little darling?!" he cried and Kyouya rolled his eyes.

* * *

Ren and the girls sat on a bench while the boys were attempting to begin a game of some sort. They didn't know what exactly was happening, but, they were content to just sit and watch. Ren smiled when Reborn hopped up onto the bench next to her. "Reborn!" she cooed, picking him up and hugging him gently. "Aww~ You're so cute~!"

"We're being followed." She stopping rubbing cheeks with him and looked around carefully. Looking closer at Yamamoto, she noticed he was watching their surroundings as well. "I don't know if they're friend or foe." He went on to tell her. Ren gazed at the girls laughing and joking beside her.

"Kyoko-chan, Haru-chan, I'm alittle concerned about Gokudera-kun…" she murmured. The girls turned to her and their faces lost a bit of their happiness.

"Me too, Ren-chan. Do you think we should go check up on him?" Kyoko asked, looking over at Haru.

"Yes. Even though all he does is insult Haru-chan, I'm worried too. He didn't look too good at the restaurant." Haru added. Ren nodded, placing Reborn back on the bench.

"Alright. How bout you two go back and check on him and I'll watch the boys?" Ren suggested. The two nodded, standing up and, after waving to the boys, started back the way they came, intent on making sure their friend was alright. Ren waved at them until they disappeared and then indicated that the boys should come over. They came, abandoning their idea. "Yamamoto," she said when they were close. He nodded.

"You knew as well?"

"Reborn told me." Tsuna looked between the two of them, wondering what was going on. Ryohei forced his confusion.

"Hey, Ren, what's happening?" She looked over at Ryohei while tying her long hair back.

"We're being followed and watched," Reborn informed the three. Yamamoto nodded and Ryohei looked around quickly. Tsuna started panicking.

"E-EH?! WE'RE BEING FOLLOWED?! BY WHO?! THE MAFIA?! OH NO! WE'RE GONNA GET HURT!" he crumbled to the ground, holding his head. Reborn looked down at him and Ren could only think of the one word the Arcobaleno was thinking.

Pathetic.

"Stupid Tsuna. You're a Boss. Get up." And he sent Tsuna sprawling. Yamamoto, Ren, and Ryohei winced as Tsuna landed on his face. Yamamoto shifted, bringing out his Shigure Kintoki and leaning it against his shoulder. Ryohei brought his arms up, curling his hands into fists.

Tsuna slowly got up rubbing the back of his head lightly, murmuring an 'oww' here and there. Ren looked around her, her arms behind her back. "Reborn, you didn't have to hit me…" Tsuna complained. Reborn gave him a look and the Vongola quickly quieted.

"Reborn. You have it?" Reborn looked up at Ren, smirking when he saw the fire in her eyes.

"Sure." He pulled out a colt .45 handgun from somewhere on his person, tossing it up to Ren who gripped it easily. "Don't hurt yourself." Ren gave a smirk and Tsuna shuddered. This was not the girl he knew… This was someone totally different.

"Thanks. I've been feeling weird since I haven't had this, but, I know you'll take good care of it." She nodded her thanks to Reborn before gripping the gun in her hands, turning it this way and that. She nodded, satisfied with how it was. She looked toward the trees where she knew a group of people was. Tsuna stepped forward, reaching for his Dying Will Pills and gloves. "Hey. Get out here." She called, her voice holding an icy tone as she shifted the handgun, bringing it up. Yamamoto and Ryohei moved forward as well.

Boy was she surprised when her friends from Ouran stumbled out, staring at her with wide eyes.

Her own eyes widened quickly and she tossed the gun back to Reborn, who had it disappear in under five seconds. "S-senpai, what're you doing here?" her voice was soft once again, the fire in her eyes disappeared. Reborn looked at the group of teens before them. "T-tamaki-senpai, what're you doing here?" she asked again, stepping toward them.

And Tamaki over-reacted.

"OH MY POOR DEAR REN!" he ran forward, gripping her in a tight hug as her friends stowed away their own weapons, watching in confusion. "WHATEVER ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T YOU KNOW GUNS ARE DANGEROUS?!" he joined the Twins in glaring at Tsuna and his friends. "YOU! YOU'VE CORRUPTED OUR LITTLE REN! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT! SHE'S AN INNOCENT LITTLE GIRL!" he yelled and Tsuna fell back, staring at the group in fear.

"Tamaki-senpai! Don't scare Tsuna-fish!" Tamaki looked down in surprise at Ren, who was gazing up at him fiercely.

"Huh?" Hikaru and Kaoru shifted their glares to looks of curiousity.

"So he's the Tsuna you're always talking about." Kaoru said. Hikaru frowned, leaning casually against his brother.

"Hm. Looks like a wimp." Tsuna bowed his head in embarrassment. They didn't even know him and they thought he was a wimp…

Ren gently got out of Tamaki's hug and stood in the middle of the two groups. Tamaki reached out, wanting to pull her away from the boys, but Haruhi put a hand on his shoulder. Ren placed her fingers against her forehead as Reborn hopped up onto her shoulder. Ren sighed. "Tamaki-senpai. These are my friends, Tsuna, Ryohei, and Yamamoto-kun. This is Reborn. You've met Hibari and no doubt you've been following me all day, so, those 2 girls are Kyoko and Haru. The silver-haired boy is Gokudera-kun. The pink haired girl is his sister, Bianchi." She said and Tamaki held his head sheepishly. "I knew it. Tamaki-senpai, why'd you follow me?"

"Oh Ren! I just couldn't bear the thought of you being injured!" he cried. Ren looked away, not making eye contact. Honey scrambled down from Mori's shoulders to run up to her, flinging himself around her waist.

"Ren-chan! Please don't scare us again! Don't leave! We got worried about you so we came here! Please don't be mad!" he wailed, tears flowing from his eyes. Ren patted his head and he looked up at her. "R-ren-chan!"

"Hahi! Ren-chan?" Ren looked over at Haru and Kyoko with a still slightly pale Gokudera behind them, Lambo in Haru's arms, I-Pin in Kyoko's arms and Fuuta walking beside them. Lambo looked in outrage at Honey, quickly scrambling out of Haru's arms to run to Ren.

"Ren-chan! Lambo-san doesn't like him! Give Lambo-san a hug!" he exclaimed, pulling on her leg. Honey clung all the tighter to her waist, sticking his tongue out at the cow-suit clad child. A low sigh was heard and she turned to Kyouya. He adjusted his glasses, gazing at everyone evenly.

"…I believe and explanation is in order, is it not?"

* * *

Ahahah? Well, I think this should be interesting~


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and Ouran High School Host Club do not belong to me and never will. I'm not that amazing.

* * *

It was almost 10 minutes before they were all settled. Lambo had insisted on sitting in Ren's lap, but I-Pin had also wanted to. It had taken a few minutes to settle them down and finally agree that Lambo would sit on the right side of her lap and I-Pin would sit on the left side. Fuuta sat next to Ren's left side and Honey sat on her right side, disliking the cow-suit clad Lambo even more. Lambo stuck his tongue out at him and Honey teared up, complaining to Ren. Ren reprimanded Lambo, who started wailing his apology to her, soaking the front of her shirt. Ren said she was sorry, didn't mean to be mean and then reached into her bag and pulled out 4 lollipops, one for Lambo(to make up for 'yelling' at him), one for Honey(to make up for Lambo's actions), and one for Fuuta and I-Pin(because they were behaving themselves). Tsuna watched silently as she single-handedly took care of the 'children' without any help. Tamaki watched on proudly. When everyone was settled, those from Namimori were situated by Ren's left side starting with Fuuta, and those from Ouran were situated on her right side, starting with Honey. Reborn settled himself on Yamamoto's shoulder. There was a space in-between the two groups across the circle from Ren. Ren gave a sigh, looking around her carefully.

I-Pin, Fuuta, Kyoko, Haru, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto with Reborn, Ryohei. Space. Haruhi, Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki, Kyouya, Mori, Honey, Lambo, Ren.

She smiled lightly. "Senpais. These are my friends, Kyoko-chan, Haru-chan, Tsuna-fi-er, -kun, Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto-kun, that's Reborn on his shoulder, and Onii- Ryohei-kun." She pointed each out in turn. Kyoko and Haru gave a little wave and Gokudera glowered at them. Ren looked down at her lap, then back up. "And Lambo, I-Pin and this is Fuuta." Fuuta smiled at them and Kyouya blinked.

"Oh! You're the people who helped us find Bianchi-nee-san!" Kyouya suddenly remembered why the kids had looked familiar. Ren looked down at him quickly, the girls copying.

"Fuuta-kun! What did we tell you about talking to strangers?" they all exclaimed at once. Fuuta looked up innocently.

"But, Ren-nee-chan, Kyoko-nee-chan, Haru-nee-chan, Tsuna-nii left without us and we wanted to see Ren-nee-chan." The girls stopped and turned to look at Tsuna. Tsuna held up his hands quickly in surrender.

"A-ah! G-gomen! I didn't mean to, honest, Ren-chan!" Ren frowned, but then sighed.

"I'm glad you didn't get hurt, Fuuta-kun. Alright. This is Honey-senpai-"

"Hi!" Honey interrupted quickly. Haru and Kyoko answered with a similar greeting.

"Mori-senpai, Kyouya-senpai, Tamaki-senpai-"

"I'm so glad you've taken such good care of our little darling up until now," Tamamki gushed(to the girls). They blinked and looked at Ren.

"Ren-chan? Are you dating him?" Both spluttered(Ren in surprise and Tamaki in outrage), but Ren answered first.

"No! Senpai's a friend! A-anyway, that's Kaoru-senpai and his brother Hikaru-senpai, and Haruhi-senpai." The twins were too busy laughing at Tamaki(for he had gotten depressed when Ren said that he was a just a friend) to greet anyone. Mori gave them a small nod, as did Kyouya. Haruhi told them it was a pleasure to meet them all. The girls replied in a similar fashion. The boys had remained oddly silently through this exchange and Ren turned to look at them. Tsuna was looking at the Ouran group intently, as was Reborn. "Hmm? Tsuna-fish? Reborn?" Tsuna blinked, coming out of his trance.

"H-hai? Ren-chan?"

"Oh! Hey Ren! I was wondering where you went!" a voice said and Ren turned around.

"Stupid Bronco. Focus on the fight." A cold voice commanded and the first voice laughed. Ren blinked at the sight of Hibari attacking Dino with his tonfas, Dino casually blocking them with his whip. Ren grinned and raised a fist in triumph.

"Yay~! Go Dino!" Hibari glared at her from the corner of his eye. She quickly lowered her arm. "G-go H-hibari-san..." Hibari returned his gaze to Dino, satisfied. A black haired man with glasses soon appeared and raised a hand in greeting. "Romario, how did Dino get dragged into this?" Ren asked him. The rest of the group watched as though it was an ordinary event(which it rather was) while the girls and the Ouran Hosts watched in horror.

"Hmm? Oh, Miss Ren. I believe the Boss said it was training." Ren sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh Dino. What am I gonna do with you?" Romario gave a smile.

"You could always move back to Italy with us. I'm afraid your grandmother would be terribly upset, but you would be able to see Dino more often, Miss Ren."

"Out of the question." Hibari's voice cut across the field. He was standing over a rather tangled up Dino. Dino gave a sheepish grin and Romario was quickly next to him, untangling the knots. "Kuroki won't move anywhere except back to Namimori."

"Kufufufu~ A little possessive, hmm?" Ren's eyes widened dangerously as the figured appeared from the forest.

"M-m-mu-" The figure smirked.

"Well, if it isn't little Ren-chan. How are you today?" And Hibari lunged for his next opponent, tonfas out. Mukuro smiled, bringing out the trident and blocking. "Kufufufu~ A rematch?"

"Herbivore."

"M-MUKURO?! WHY'RE YOU HERE?!" the Vongola guardians were up in a second, Tsuna holding his head tightly. Mukuro shifted his gaze away from Hibari to Tsuna. He flinched.

"Vongola… Why am I here? To destroy the Mafia and everyone in it." Mukuro said the simple desire so easily. Gokudera had his dynamite out in a second, moving in-front of Tsuna.

"Mukuro…" the name came out as a growl.

"Reborn."

"Yea." No one noticed that Reborn had moved. No one noticed that Ren had moved. As Hibari had moved back, preparing to lunge once again for the illusionist, Ren was in the middle of the two, Reborn on her shoulder. She faced Hibari while Reborn faced Mukuro.

"Hmm, Ren, I don't think I would do that if I were you," Dino commented simply.

"Dino, please don't aggravate Hibari-san anymore today." She asked. Dino shrugged. Mukuro smirked.

"Well well well, our little flower is quite interesting, isn't she?" Hibari's eyes narrowed.

"Herbivore, move or I'll bite you to death." Ren smiled.

"Nope." His eyes narrowed further and Tsuna was on the verge of fainting. Gokudera scowled.

"Oi, idiot, don't tick him off! Then he'll be after us!" he yelled at her. She ignored him. Mukruo raised a hand up and it covered his red eye.

"Well, I must say that was quite entertaining, but I believe my little Chrome is quite worn out. I'll take my leave now." The illusionist faded and in his place a young dark haired girl swayed.

"Mukuro…-sama…" Ren moved, catching her easily and feeling her wrist for a pulse. She frowned, gently lowering the girl onto a park bench.

"Chrome-chan… hmm, strong pulse. I think she'll wake up soon," She told Tsuna, who had run up behind her. He gave a sigh of relief.

"Ahh, that's good. Eeek!" and Hibari was towering over the two. Tsuna scrambled away and Ren looked up innocently.

"Hmm? H-hibari-san-" and then she was a few meters away, a rather large red mark on her cheek as he walked away. Dino frowned, standing up and going after him.

"Now now, Kyoya, what have I told you about-"

"Shut-up, stupid Bronco." Ren rubbed her cheek as Dino continued following after his pupil, Romario trailing behind him.

"Oww… This is gonna bruise…" she murmured quietly as she sat up.

"AH! REN! ARE YOU OKAY?! HE DIDN'T HURT YOU, DID HE?!" and Tamaki was by her side, holding her hand, tears in his eyes.

"AHAHAHAHA! YOUR FRIENDS ARE FUNNY REN!" Ryohei roared, quite amused.

"Ren-chan! Are you okay?" Kyoko and Haru asked quickly, standing up.

"Ren-chan! Play with Lambo-san!" Lambo yelled, running toward her, I-pin following behind him.

"No Lambo! Ren-chan hurt!" I-Pin cried, chasing after him.

"Hahahaha! No one can catch Lambo-s- huh?" and Lambo was dangling upside down. "Shalala?" he looked up and saw a scowling Gokudera. "Gokubaka! Let Lambo-san down!" and Gokudera complied, dropping the child on his head. The child laid still for a moment before sitting up, tears in his eyes. "Gotta…Stay…Calm…WAAAAAAAAHH!" and then brought out the familiar purple bazooka, disappearing inside of it.

"N-no! Lambo, don't!" but Ren's cry came too late as the pink smoke appeared.

"My my… It seems my younger self got upset once again." A calm voice said. The pink smoke cleared and the teenager rubbed his head. "Oh. Ren-nee-chan. My my, if it isn't the young Vongola. Hmm?" Adult Lambo noticed the Ouran students and gazed at them. "Hikaru-nii-san. You're much younger too." Hikaru and Kaoru blinked and Hikaru pointed to himself. "Hai. Calla-nee-chan(**1**) said to tell you that she thought it was a fabulous wedding."

"EH?" Adult Lambo turned his gaze to the Vongolas.

"Gokudera-san, you up-"

"Romeo!" and Bianchi was there, Poison Cooking in both her hands and Adult Lambo cowered behind Ren.

"Ren-nee-chan! Save me!" Ren looked quickly between the two and held her hands up.

"N-now hold on, B-bianchi-chan! It isn't Romeo! Remember?! He died! This is Lambo!" Bianchi would not be swayed.

"Ren…Step aside!" and Adult Lambo started running for his life, Bianchi following close behind him, shouting curses and the like. Ren hung her head and prayed for poor Lambo.

"Hey, Ren, who was that guy?" and the twins were in her face, demanding answers.

"Uhhh, friend of the family?" Hikaru and Kaoru leaned in closer.

"What did he mean by a wedding?"

"Ummm that could be hard to explain…."

"And who's this 'Calla'?" Ren shifted her eyes from the twins to her friends. Tsuna shrugged.

"D-dino's girlfriend?" And Tsuna promptly fainted at the thought of what Calla might do to _him_ if she learned of this misunderstanding. The twins looked at each other, then nodded. They turned their gaze back to Ren.

"So what's this about a wedding?" Ren shrugged helplessly.

"Marriage? Maybe you guys get married, or plan a wedding, I don't know!" they stared at her blankly and someone cleared their throat. Everyone looked over at Kyouya.

"Well. Shall we call this a day then, Ren?" Everyone turned once again to look at Ren.

"…I guess we can go back to my house… Wow, this day's been insane and it's only 3 o'clock…"

* * *

Wow~! Took forever to do this one! Sorry about that! It's been almost a month since I updated this! Gomen! Wahahahaha! I'm aware this chapter was all over the place, but hey. Can't be helped, right? Both of them animes are insane! Thanks to everyone who's been reading this, reviewing this, and giving me some websites for reading KHR! online. Thanks so much! If I could hug you I would! But unfortunately I can't… I can't even give you one of my special cupcakes… or even a cookie… *sigh* oh well. Life isn't fair, right?

Calla is Lambo's half-sister from my KHR! story on Quizilla. She's the Boss of her Family, but also a subordinate of the Cavallone Family, for she ultimately denounced her title until her Family forces it onto her. Her father died when she was younger, that's when she became a subordinate of Cavallone. The story is called "The Red Lily".


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Ouran High School Host Club and KHR! do not belong to me and never will. Sad, I know.

* * *

The little bell over the door jingled as it opened. "Mama, Papa, I'm ho-"

"Ren! How dare you?!" her mother flew out of the kitchen, furious, her eyes flashing. Her father wasn't far behind, though his look was much calmer. "And look at you! Traipsing all over town with these- these- these _men!"_ her mother's rage could not be contained. "What's everyone going to think?! That my daughter's a- a- a- a…" her voice cracked and everyone held their breaths, waiting for the worst. "Ren… I thought I lost you again…" a tear slid down her cheek as she slowly crumbled to the ground, hiding her face in her hands. "Please don't do that… I don't want to lose you again, Ren… please don't leave me again…" Takumi gave a smile, kneeling down beside his wife. He patted her back gently and she flung herself at his chest. He picked her up bridal style easily, her hands gripping the front of his shirt as she cried.

"Ren, it's good to have you home. Please, won't you all come into the house?" he jerked his head to a door behind the register. The Ouran students blinked, but those from Namimori knew what to do. Takumi led the way, carrying his wife as Ren followed behind. "Ren, put on some tea, will you dear? Your mother needs some. Please, sit down, all of you. The living room's that way." He smiled at the teens before him, then he looked down at his wife still crying quietly. "Now now, Shizuka, we have guests…" he told her gently, seating her at the kitchen table, kneeling before her. "Shizuka, please don't cry dear. I don't like it when you're sad, darling… my world goes dark." The students found that they had to look away from the personal scene. In enters Ren, carrying a tray covered in steaming cups of tea. She smiled fondly at her parents.

"Tea?" The Ouran students smiled at her while Kyoko and Haru stood up to help serve. They had no problem taking care of the upperclassmen.

"Ren, you home? Oh, Takumi, Shizuka; Yo." The clear voice echoed through the house and with it came the sound of footsteps. "Nice seeing you again." The sound of a chair being scraped across the floor was then heard. "Hey, Shizuka, something wrong? You're crying. Wait, did something happen to Ren? Takumi, wher-" Tsuna stood up, his tea placed on the coffee table before them.

"Dino-san! We're in here!" Dino poked his head in and grinned.

"Ah, so you are. Yo, Ren. Good seeing you again so soon." Takumi laid a hand on his shoulder gently. Dino looked over at him. "Takumi, what's up?"

"Dino, my dear cousin, your men?" Dino blinked, looking out the window at all his men gathered there in the street. "Too noticeable."

"…Right. Romario, can you get them gone?" The same black haired man from earlier appeared, a turtle on his head.

"Ah! Enzio~!" Ren gave a squeal of delight and danced over, standing on tip-toes to remove the little reptile from the man's head. Romario nodded his head to the group before disappearing outside. Ren rubbed her cheek against Enzio, giving little coos. Dino shook his head lightly. "Dino, you staying here? or going to Tsuna's?" Ren looked over at her cousin. The man looked over at Tsuna, smiling.

"Yo, little bro. How ya been? Behaving?" Tsuna blushed at the attention.

"F-fine, you?" Dino grinned, striding over and ruffling his hair. "A-ah, Dino-san!"

"Ne~? Not in-front of guests, huh little bro?" Dino gave a cheerful grin over to the Ouran students. Tamaki rose, offering a hand.

"Hello, it's nice to see you again." Tamaki offered a smile and Dino shook his hand.

"Likewise. Ren hasn't been any trouble, has she?" Dino glanced over at Ren, who was speaking with Romario, still petting Enzio. "She can be… interesting at times." He gave a fond smile and Reborn hopped up on his shoulder.

"Dino." Dino blinked.

"Hm, Reborn?"

"…You need more training." Both he and Tsuna paled drastically and Dino waved his hands.

"N-no! I'm fine, Reborn!" Reborn's eyes narrowed.

"Are you talking back to me?"

"Reborn, stop picking on Dino. I think he's fine," Ren had deposited Enzio back onto Romario's head in exchange for plucking Reborn and cuddling him. Reborn didn't resist and let her hug him. Dino gave a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the couch next to Tsuna. Gokudera growled at him. Dino didn't notice as he looked around.

"Ren, did you get a cat? I thought I heard it purring…"

"Dino. I'm allergic to cats." Dino rubbed the back of his head.

"O-oh? That so? Eheheh…" Hikaru, Kaoru, Honey, and Kyouya watched this exchange calmly, warily. "Shizuka, Takumi, how've you been?" Dino looked to the doorway where his cousins, Ren's parents, stood. Takumi offered a smile.

"Fine. Mother went a bit extreme… but we're doing fine." His arm snaked around his wife's shoulders, pulling her close. Dino gave a solemn nod.

"Auntie Tomiko is rather extreme…" Dino agreed after a moment. They were all quite a bit before someone noticed Ren missing.

Kyoko looked around her surroundings, wondering where her friend went. Haru looked over at her curiously. "Did anyone see where Ren-chan went?" Kyoko finally voiced her question. Fuuta looked over at her.

"Ren-nee went upstairs, Kyoko-nee." Kyoko and Haru both stood up, bowing in apology to the rest of the group before going up said stairs. The boys watched them go and then watched quietly as Shizuka went up as well. Takumi let a cold and rather scary grin, not unlike Kyouya's(both Kyoyas…), as he looked over at all the men gathered in his living room.

"Well well, what a pleasant surprise. Since I have all of you here in one place, this makes this so much easier for me. Now, seeing as you're all at that age-" Gokudera realized where this conversation was going and stood up quickly.

"The Tenth would never do that!" he defended his Boss. Takumi turned his head slowly to glare at him.

"…Sit down… Guardian of Storm…" Tsuna and the rest of his guardians were surprised, Gokudera most of all. He simply gawked at the man. "Hayato… Gokudera… Sit down and shut your trap." Gokudera gave another glare before seating himself once again. Takumi gave a rather cruel smile. "She is my daughter after-all. She had to have permission from someone." Tsuna gaped at him before turning to Reborn, who was smirking. Now he was appalled.

"R-reborn! You did this!" Reborn looked over at him sharply and he gulped.

"No-Good Tsuna. She did need permission. She's a Cavallone." Tsuna looked over at Dino, betrayed.

"D-dino-san… you let her? You let Ren-chan?" the hurt in his eyes was evident. Dino ran a hand through his hair.

"Now now, Tsuna, let's hear out cousin Takumi, ne?" he suggested, carefully avoiding the subject. The Ouran students were starting to become concerned and curious. Takumi looked over at them, making sure they didn't feel left out. They could've done without.

"Now, as I was saying-"

"_Papa~!" _

"Hai~! Yes, Ren~?" Takumi was out of his seat and at the bottom of the steps, looking up.

"_Papa, can we go out?"_ Takumi looked torn.

"But, Ren, it's almost dinnertime…"

"_We'll be back before then! Don't worry, Papa~!"_ Takumi clasped his hands together, a frown on his face.

"Well… I suppose…" the three girls came down the steps, grinning cheerfully. Takumi smiled back. "Now, make sure not to talk to strangers, or get into anyone's car, hmm?" Ren nodded, reaching up to kiss his cheek.

"Yes, Papa. Can Gokudera-kun come with us?" once again, all of Tsuna's guardians and Tsuna himself were surprised, but none so much as Gokudera himself.

"Ehh?!" Takumi gave a critical look over at Gokudera, his chin in his hand.

"Hmm… I'm not sure… ah, I know. Take the kids with you." Ren, Kyoko, and Haru nodded. "Go on, you three," Takumi urged the children on and they went over to girls, all six now waving bye before leaving. Tamaki was crying as Ren disappeared and he started wailing on Haruhi's shoulder. Takumi's gaze fell on Gokudera and the male looked as if he could care less. "Now… why would Ren ask for _you_? Hmmm?" Shizuka then came down the steps lightly, almost attracting to attention.

"Takumi…" her voice was soft, as was her smile. Takumi looked over at her, his face brightening now that she wasn't crying.

"Shizuka, you're feeling better?"

"Takumi, let the children go, hmm? I'm sure they all know what you're going to talk about. Tsuna and his friends have known Ren for a long time now, and boys from Ouran would never." She insisted. Takumi gave a look over the boys once again before nodding. Shizuka smiled. "Shall we start dinner then?" Takumi followed her into the kitchen.

It was a few minutes before anyone talked. When finally Tsuna was going to confront his older brother about what had happened, a ringing was heard from within the blonde's jacket. He blinked, looking down and pulling out the device. Glancing at the number he winced. "Tsuna, you wanna answer it?" Dino asked weakly. Tsuna gave him a blank look. "Gokudera? You?" Gokudera scoffed, taking the phone and flipping it open, pressing it to his ear.

"Wh-" he was interrupted, and, as the phone was on speaker, everyone heard the voice on the other end.

"_Cavallone… you're hiding again…"_ the growl was dark and Gokudera blinked, pulling the phone back from his ear. "_Let me guess: you're in Japan again and with Tsuna. You saw my number and gave it to Tsuna. He refused. Gokudera took it instead. Cavallone, I know you too well for any of your childish tricks to work…"_ the voice was hard to describe, neither male nor female, but they were angry. Had Lambo been there, he would have brightened quickly and started chattering away. _"You sure as hell better not be ignoring me, Cavallone…"_ Dino took the phone hesitantly, turning down the volume.

"G-good afternoon, Calla…" Tsuna paled. "No, I wasn't ig-… No… no… no… ye- I mean no! No! I did-… no… yes ma'am… yes… uh-huh… nope, all under con-… yes… yes… yes, Calla… alright, Calla. See you soon…" Dino disconnected the call and hung his head miserably. Tsuna pitied the man, so he held off on his interrogation. "Tsuna… Calla's pretty upset…" Reborn hopped over to him, standing in-front of him on the coffee table. Dino looked at him, awaiting the worst.

"…Idiot student of mine." Dino hung his head. "You never leave a lady alone when faced with your Family." Dino rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from his mentor. The Twins blinked.

"Wait, Calla? As in-"

"-that kid's sister?" Hikaru and Kaoru gazed at Dino evenly. He raised his head slightly.

"Lambo's?... yea, that's her…"

"She said something about a wedding." Hikaru stated. Tsuna blinked before it came back to him.

"Oh yea! Adult Lambo said that! He must've meant from the-…" he fell silent when the twins turned their gaze to him. He fiddled with his fingers. A slight chuckle.

"It seems our new friends have many secrets, hmm?" the black haired teen introduced as Kyouya gave a half smile, writing something or another down in his little book. Tsuna looked away. The front door opened and the girls and the kids appeared.

"We're back~! Hm? Daddy? You finished your talk with them? Cool!" in the kitchen, Takumi hung his head, upset his own daughter didn't like him trying to protect her. "I'm going up to change, then I'm sleeping over at Kyoko's, okay, Mama?" Shizuka smiled, patting her husband's back.

"Yes, that's fine dear. Have fun." Tsuna and his friends stood up. Shizuka looked over at them, raising a brow. As Ren was going toward the stairs, she stopped, turned, and pouted a bit at the boys.

"Guess I won't see you guys for awhile…" Yamamoto laughed, ruffling her hair.

"Ah, well that's alright! It'll just be all the more fun next time you're here, ne?" he grinned brightly and Ren gave him a quick hug and he patted her back in return. She didn't bother giving Ryohei a hug because she would see him later. She hugged Tsuna tightly, he hugging her back in return.

"I'll miss you, Tsuna-fish. Be strong," she grinned and released him. Gokudera scowled at gave him a blank look. "I take it you don't want a hug, Gokudera?"

"Tch. No. and don't even think about kissing me again."

"WHAT?!" two identical voices screeched, one being Takumi and the other being Tamaki. Takumi was outraged because his daughter kissed a boy, a boy he particularly didn't like. Tamaki was outraged because his 'daughter' had 'been kissed' by the delinquent child he didn't like. Ren frowned, waving a hand.

"Alright, how 'bout a firm handshake then?" she suggested. Gokudera glared at her outstretched hand.

"Guys do firm handshakes." Ren stuck her tongue out at him. She grabbed his hand, shook it once, then went up the stairs without a backward glance. Gokudera's eye twitched. "Tch, annoying girl…" he crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. Tsuna gave a nervous laugh.

"S-shall we go then?" he suggested faintly. Gokudera walked toward the door, disappearing out of it. Yamamoto grinned, bowing to the Kuroki's.

"Thank you for having us!" and then he exited as well. Tsuna followed afterwards, thanking the two as well. Ryohei thanked them rather enthusiastically before following after Kyoko and Haru, who thanked the two sincerely. The children followed after them, waving. Dino grinned, standing slowly.

"Guess I'll make sure they all get home, hmm?" Shizuka grabbed his arm as he was leaving and smiled, kissing his cheek. "I'll see you guys later then, come on Romario." Romario followed after his Boss calmly, Enzio within his pocket. The Ouran students rose as well. Tamaki and Honey beamed at them, thanking them for having them. The twins gave a thank you as well, Haruhi following their lead. Mori was with Honey. Kyouya adjusted his glasses.

"Mr. Kuroki, it's been an honor to meet you." Takumi raised a brow.

"Oh? Meeting a Ootori is an honor as well." Takumi bowed his head lightly as Ren bounded down the stairs.

"I love you Daddy, I'll see you later~!" she kissed his cheek and then was out the door.

* * *

Wahahahaha~! Finally post something~!

Things to Address:

I will update when I get an idea. No sooner, no later, kk~?

Yes, Ren's personality is different than I when I first started this. She is supposed to be all hyper and energetic. She was moving, that's why she was all quiet and stuff and she hadn't seen her grandmother for sometime and Tomiko is rather… different, so, she wasn't quite sure how to act. When she started going to Ouran, she was still all quiet cause it's a new school. Hopefully, she'll stay this way the rest of the story, unless she gets like majorly traumatized and stops talking and being happy and stuff… which I doubt will happen. She will still have her moments of quietness at Ouran for the next couple of chapters or so cause she's still not accustomed to it. YAY.

The phone call was from Calla. Like I said in the previous chapter, Calla is Lambo's half-sister. She was stuck back in Italy while Dino decided to run away to Japan. I don't think she'll be making anymore surprise appearances… but… you never know~!

Ren's parents acted different when they were in the shop than when they were in the house. I'm aware. Shizuka is usually calm and composed, but, not knowing where her daughter just disappeared to shocked her. Takumi is usually rather composed, but when it concerns his daughter he ends up rather acting like Komui Lee from -Man, if any of you know that series… aka, he dots upon his daughter. When his wife cries, or is upset, he gets serious and says the most romantic things~

Yes, there is a story to this. I'm going to take it into the future. You guys are gonna love that part, I just know it~

Reviews always help me, fyi~


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me in the least

* * *

Ren hurried out of the shop, catching up with Haru and Kyoko as she pulled on her jacket. The Ouran students didn't want her to go, but hey. What could they do? Dino watched calmly as she hopped alongside him for a bit while she tried to tie her shoe. "Ren. Don't you think you should stop? You might fall." She didn't look up, just continued to work on her shoe lace.

"I'll be fine. It's not like anyone I know is gonna see me acting like this. It'll be fine," she scoffed. Dino shrugged, knowing she was probably right.

"…Ren? That you? What're you doing?" Ren stopped hopping to look up and down the street a bit. Black hair on the long side and straightened off to the right. There was a single silver hoop in his left ear. He had surprisingly light eyes, a blue in color. He wore simple jeans and a black t-shirt. He raised a brow. "Ren?"

"Shun! I haven't seen you in forever!" and Ren was in his arms, hugging him tightly. The Ouran kids were holding back a furious Tamaki, who wanted to try and strangle the 'man' who would dare to touch his 'daughter'. "Where're you been? I missed you!" Shun patted her head and gave a slight wave to the other teens.

"Hey guys. Miss me? Oh, Dino. Yo. Didn't know you were here." Shun grinned and Dino copied the gesture.

"Yea. Few days now. Gotta get back soon though. Calla's kinda upset." Shun snickered as Dino rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ooh, bad move there, man. Never leave a lady alone with your family. They'll drive her nuts. She's bound to leave you if you keep doing that." Dino gave a sigh, hanging his head. Tsuna looked over at him sympathetically. "Well, how you been squirt?" Shun looked down at the girl glaring up at him. "What? Something happen?"

"I haven't seen you in two weeks. What is wrong with you?" Ren pulled away to put her hands on her hips. Shun shrugged.

"Sorry, babe. You know me." Ren deflated, seeing that he wasn't going to give any other answer.

"Well, at-least it was only two weeks this time." Kyoko and Haru gazed at the man curiously, seeing as they had never met him before. Ren sighed. "Shun… how come you never come when I have time? Oh well. I'll see you next week then. I gotta get going, kay?"

"Wait, next week?" Ren gave him a look and he blinked. "What?"

"I moved."

"Huh? When?" Ren waved, walking over to where Kyoko and Haru were. "Hey, Ren, come on now! Talk to me!" Dino patted his shoulder and Shun watched as Ren simply walked calmly away.

"Shun, really. Take better care of her."

"Like you can talk." Shun crossed his arms, gazing at his friend. Dino ignored him. Tsuna and his guardians decided now was not the best time to catch up with their friend and opted to hurry behind the girls. Hikaru and Kaoru walked calmly by with Haruhi while Mori carried Tamaki over his shoulder, Honey making sure that their boss couldn't shout curses at the young man who had seemed to so easily captivate their new friend's heart. "Huh? Who're they?" Dino shook his head at his friend.

"Shun. Really. You should know your little sister's friends."

"Well sorry for not stalking her. I guess I have to learn a bit more from you, yea?" Dino frowned, looking away.

"I don't stalk her…" Shun rolled his eyes.

"Yea, sure, whatever. I'll just pretend like two summers ago didn't happen."

* * *

"Ren-chan, who was that guy?" Kyoko asked as they walked. The Ouran students were still with them, making sure the girls got home safely. Tamaki bristled and Honey quickly covered his mouth. Ren looked over at her friend.

"Hmm? Oh, Shun? My older brother." And everyone's jaws dropped.

"But, I thought you were an only child?"

"I am." Haru and Kyoko looked at each other. Hikaru decided to voice his question.

"If you're an only child, how can you have a brother?" Ren clasped her hands behind her back and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Technically, I have no brothers or sisters, but I just call them my brothers and sisters." Hikaru gave her a look. "I have 6 sisters and 8 brothers. I'm the youngest by about 3 years. The next youngest is 17, my older sister Akemi." Hikaru's eyes widened, as did everyone else's. "Back in school, mom hung out with… let's just say they weren't model students, hmm? When they had kids, their kids just kinda bunked with us 'cause their parents were sorta messed up. But it's all cool, 'cause I gained more older siblings than anyone else, but let me tell you; when we get them all in the same place together, it's insane. Sorta how that trip to the zoo was, remember, Kyoko-chan? Haru-chan?" the girls laughed, remembering how crazy it had been. Ren smiled. The Ouran students were becoming slightly concerned. "It's all cool. They visit every now and again, but they have their own lives. My older sister, Yuri, lives up here. When I visit you, Kyoko-chan, I always stop in to see her and the baby." Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear.

"Oh, hey Ren! You should've called and told me you were coming over! Oh? Your friends? You wanna come in? I just made some tea," the older woman, about 25, stood in the doorway, a baby on her hip. She was very pretty and actually looked like Ren. Ren smiled and waved.

"I'm not sure, nee-san. Kyoko? Haru? You wanna stop in? Oh, you guys can come too if you want." Ren looked over at her older friends and they looked amongst themselves. Kyouya smiled.

"We'd love to. Thank you." The other hosts looked over at him, surprised. Ren gave a brilliant grin and started toward the fence.

"Nee-san, you sure you have enough cups?" The woman laughed.

"Ren, my dear little darling, when I have the odd assortment of family coming and going, I tend to make sure I'm always stocked. This is just like your birthday party, just with not as many people." Yuri opened the door wider and Ren followed after her sister, Kyoko and Haru right behind her. The Hosts were after them. "Ren, take care of Hikari, will you?" The woman handed her daughter to Ren, who cradled the baby in her arms. "Cool, I'll get the tea. Ya'll just sit down here." Yuri indicated to the many seats available in the front room. They sat hesitantly as Ren disappeared down the hall.

"Don't worry, little Hika-chan~! I'll take care of you while mummy's busy, hmm?" Happy little baby gurgles were heard before the door closed. The teens looked around them curiously as Yuri came back out almost immediately.

"Yea, I'm fast with making tea. Ren and Shun would drink it all the time when they were little. They loved it and I couldn't make it fast enough for them." She set the tray down and sat down on the couch. "I miss those times… ah well. At-least I don't have to babysit them anymore."

"_I heard that._"

"I know~!" Yuri laughed and the teens picked up their tea, sipping at it gently. The front door opened and heavy footsteps were heard. Yuri brightened. "Kousuke! You're home~!" A man, brown hair and brown eyes, rather tall, poked his head into the room.

"Yo. Hmm? Company? Oh, Yuri, look who I found." And he pulled out Shun hanging by the back of his shirt about 7 inches off the ground.

"Yuri. Can you tell your… _husband_ to let me down already? I was minding my own business and he just tackled me." Shun scoffed, his arms crossed. Yuri raised a brow, pointing to the couch. Kousuke dropped the man next to her. "Yuri, come on, I gotta get home. Mom'll get worried."

"Ah-ah-ahh little brother. You've been avoiding me, haven't you?" Shun slid further into the couch, muttering darkly.

"I've been avoiding _Kousuke_." Yuri poked him in the forehead and he growled. Yuri turned to their guests.

"Please excuse my brother. He's actually related to me, so I can punish him however I see fit, ne?" she gave a cheerful grin. Ren appeared from the hall, Hikari in her arms.

"Nee-san—oh, Shun, you're here—Hikari should be fine for the rest of the night." The baby was asleep. Yuri beamed.

"Thanks little sis~! Ah, Shun, get lost. I don't want mom yelling at me again." Shun stood from the couch, grumbling as he walked out the front door. Ren waved from the window. Yuri looked over at Ren's friends. "Ouran students? How cute~! Ohh? An Ootori? Ren, you're really gettin' up in the world~!" Yuri laughed, patting her sister's back. Ren shrugged and Kyouya raised a brow. "Ya have to understand, I went to school with your brother. Scholarship and all." Kyouya gave a slight nod, writing something down in his book.

"Ah, Yuri, as much as I love you and the baby, we have to get going." Ren noticed the time. "I love you too, Kousuke~!" a laugh from the kitchen.

"Yea, yea, I know. Now get going you little runts." Ren smiled, standing up. Yuri hugged her sister warmly, patting her head.

"Alright. Come see me sometime, hmm? I'm just stuck with Shun and Kousuke and, oh Heaven help me, my mother." Both girls shivered.

"Alright, I promise. Kyoko? Haru?" the others stood up, thanking Yuri for the tea. She waved them off, seeing them out the door. Ren was smiling, her hands once again clasped behind her back. The twins wondered about her. She was different. "Well, I guess this is where we say our good-byes. See you tomorrow, senpais," Ren waved to her upperclassmen friend before going down the short walkway with Kyoko and Haru and into the Sasagawa household. The Ouran students stood there for another few moments before they walked quietly down to where the limo would take them home.

* * *

"Ah~! Haruhi~! You're back~!" Ranka hugged his little girl tightly, glaring over her shoulder at Tamaki. "What took you so long? I missed you." his words were strained and Tamaki was hiding behind Kyouya.

"Don't worry dad. It won't again anytime soon… right, sempai?" Haruhi turned to look at Tamaki. He peeked over Kyouya's shoulder, tears in his eyes.

"Haruhi, I thought you liked going places with daddy?" Haruhi gave him an even stare and Tamaki burst into tears. Kyouya was the one he was hanging off of.

"Well. As pleasant as this is, we really should be going," Kyouya smiled at Ranka. Ranka returned to smile.

"Of-course. Some other time perhaps. See you," he waved as they piled back into the limo, minus one Haruhi. Tamaki had stopped crying and was gazing out the window thoughtfully. The twins exchanged looks before gazing at their leader. Kyouya glanced up from his black notebook.

"Something the matter, Tamaki?" he inquired smoothly. Tamaki shifted his gaze to his friend before moving it back to the world outside of his window.

"Not really. Just thinking. Ren really isn't what she first appears to be. It's rather interesting, trying to figure out the mystery that is the Kurokis." He gave a calm smile.

"Why do you have to figure it out?" Hikaru questioned. Kaoru looked at his brother, his brow raised.

"Hikaru…"

"Can't we just accept it? It's not like she's dangerous, like in the mafia or something. I say we just let her be Ren." Kaoru smiled at his twin, glad he was growing up, even if it was little by little. Tamaki blinked at the younger teen before letting out a little laugh, giving a closed eye smile.

"Yes of-course. I was just curious about it, Hikaru." Hikaru looked away, out the window and Tamaki and his twin watched him proudly. "The mafia… it would be very interesting if Ren was to be in the mafia. She's looks too innocent for it."

"Yet she knows how to handle a gun, a colt .45 to be exact. That's a tough one to handle. It's not common to see a gun of the caliber in the hands of a 14 year old girl, wouldn't you say?" Kyouya commented. Now, this made Tamaki think. He was wondering why an innocent little girl, like his daughter, would have a gun in the first place. And now the fact that it was rather difficult for adults to use it… he was becoming a bit concerned.

"Yes, that is a good point… but I bet it's for protection. Maybe they've had break-ins at their house? Who knows?" Tamaki decided that his little girl was innocent and unless proved guilty, she would remain so. "The mafia… is there a mafia in Japan?"

"They have some influence, like the Yakuza, but that's about it." Kyouya recited. Tamaki nodded, turning to Hikaru.

"Well, I think that settles it, right, Hikaru?" Hikaru glanced at him, giving a single nod. Tamaki smiled, sitting back in his seat. "All the same. I'll feel better when she's back here with us."

* * *

Ah, well, we're getting a little into Ren's family, ne? I like Yuri~ I'm glad i made her pretty awesome. Shun's just weird because she's his big sis and he's all like "COOTIES" and fou fa like that.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I do not own KHR! or OHSHC. Sadly, that will never happen.

* * *

Ren had watched from the doorway as her senpais disappeared. She smiled, retreating into the Sasagawa household, closing the door behind her and making her way up to Kyoko's room. The sleeping bags were out and the two girls were discussing something or another when she came in, but focused their attention on her when she entered. Ren settled on the bag she used the night before, gazing at her friends. "What's up?" They smiled.

"Nothing. We're just glad you're back, Ren-chan~!" Haru sang, throwing her arms around her.

* * *

Tomiko paced the floors, Roland standing by. "She should've called by now!" she said, stopping to gaze out the window before continuing. "Something must've happened. I know something's happened. She should've called by now." Roland didn't try to interfere. "She's probably lying somewhere hurt or… no. I'm not going to think about that. Gah, Roland, where's that telephone?! I'm going to call that ungrateful, betraying, inconsiderate, disloyal—ah, here's the phone…." She paused, holding the receiver in her hand. She furrowed her brows together, reaching toward the phone buttons, then retracting her hand. And then she reached out again only to draw it back once more. Roland watched curiously.

"Madam, could it be that you… _forget_ your son's phone number?" he suggested. Tomiko looked away.

"No! That's not it!" Roland raised a brow. Tomiko frowned. "Alright, yea, I forget it. Now where's that phon—ah, thank you, Roland." Roland handed her the address book, smiling. She opened it, flipping through the numerous pages before stopping on one and scanning it thoroughly, trailing her finger down it. "AHA. I FOUND IT."

"Of-course you did, Madam." She dialed the number, placing on hand on her hip as it rang.

"Takumi, don't you dare han—he hung up… he hung up on me, his own _mother_! Roland! What has the world come to?!" she sobbed. Roland took the phone from her hand, bringing it to his own ear and dialing a number, different than that of Takumi's. Tomiko was off crying about how the world was so unfair etc. Roland sighed.

"Oh, yes. Is this Nori? Yes. Oh, please excuse me. My name is Roland. We're currently trying to find a lost girl. Her name is Ren Kuroki. Yes, that's right, sorry to trouble you. Have you- I see. Thank you." Roland spoke in the receiver for almost a minute before placing it back into its place. He stood still for a moment before picking it up once again, dialing yet another different number. "Yes, hello madam. Does a man named Shun live in your house? Oh? May I speak to him? Yes, I'll hold." He watched as Tomiko threw herself onto the couch, sobbing into a pillow. "Ah, yes, Shun. My name is Roland. I'm currently trying to find a missing girl. Ah, no sir, I didn't imply that- Well, no sir, I didn't say I believed tha- Sir, just hear me out? Sir, please. I'm just trying to find her and apparently she has had contact with you in the past- Why no sir, we don't regularly keep- Sir, what I meant to say is that we just want to keep the girl- Sir, there's no need for threats. I just need to speak wit- No sir. No sir. Yes, that's right." Roland paused, taking in a breath. "Sir, I'm trying to find a girl, 14 years of age, about mid-back length brown hair, light brown eyes. She stands about 5'4. Her name is Ren Kuroki. Yes, Kuroki, K-U-R-O-K-I. Yes, that's right. She was in Namimori this weekend and her grandmother hasn't received word that she was settled in. Yes, her grandmother, Mrs. Kuroki. Yes, that's the one. Sir, have you- Oh. I see. Thank you." and he hung up quickly.

He let out a deep breath, leaning against the back of the couch and running a hand through his hair. Kids these days. So defensive. "Have you found her?" Tomiko called from the other couch. Roland shook his head. She pouted. "Well. This is rather upsetting. Roland, could you head out there and search around? I'm calling Takumi again and if he doesn't answer, I'm calling the cops." She was just sitting up when the phone rang. Roland answered.

"Hello, Kuroki estate." Tomiko laid back down, throwing a arms over her eyes. "Sir? May I have your name? Tamaki Suoh?" Tomiko sat straight up, gazing at him with eyes wide. "Any relation to Suoh of- Ah. Yes of-course. Please hold on for a minute." Roland placed his hand over the mouth piece, gazing at Tomiko. "Tamaki Suoh is on the line madam. Something about permission for a picnic with your granddaughter tomorrow?" Tomiko practically pounced on her butler.

"Hello?" She said into the phone. Roland straightened his jacket and went off to talk to the chefs about dinner. "Yea, that's me. You said something about my granddaughter? Yes, Ren. Her." She gazed out the window. "Mm-hmm. Yea, that's her. How do you know her? Oh? You spent the day with her? In Namimori? Did she meet you at Ouran Academy? A picnic? Yes, that sounds marvelous. A late lunch at 2:00? Splendid. Yes. Shall we meet you anywhere? You're picking her up? Oh, there's others coming? Oh really? No, I had no idea. Ren hasn't seen me in quite some time and I'm afraid we're not as close as we used to be. Yes, that's what happened. Well, alright. We will be awaiting your arrival here tomorrow. Good-bye." Tomiko hung up the phone and stood for a moment.

Then she squealed in delight and starting jumping up and down. As stated before, Tomiko looked extremely young, despite her age. She was still as athletic as she was oh, 30-40 years ago. Time hadn't changed much about her. She still also had the mindset of a female in her mid-teens to about late-20's, unfortunately. "Ah~! My little Ren's growing up~!"she sang, prancing down the halls. The many maids and servants were use to this behavior and didn't find it odd in the least. When the Madam was happy, their work was so much easier.

* * *

"Ren-chan… pst, Ren-chan…" Haru whispered. Ren gave a muffled groan, opening her eyes slowly and gazing at her friend. Haru grinned, pointing at her phone. The screen on the top was lit up and it was vibrating on the carpet. "It was under my pillow." Ren dropped her head back into her pillow before grabbing her phone and standing up, going out into the hall to answer the call.

"Hello…"

"_Ren. I'm bored."_ Ren hung her head, glancing blearily at the clock. 1:12. She checked the caller id. No one she knew. "_Reeeen._"

"Alright… who is this? I hope you know it's past 1 in the morning…" She leaned back against the wall, ready to fall asleep standing up.

"_Hikaru. I thought all girls stayed up late gossiping at sleep-overs?" _Ren puffed out a breath.

"Yea. The idiots. Hikaru-senpai, come on, I'm tired. Go talk to Kaoru-senpai…"

"_He's tired too. He kicked me out of the room." _Ren refrained from losing her temper(she tends to do that more often when she's sleepy). She thought Kaoru had the right idea…

"Hikaru-senpai… please, I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow, remember?"

"_But Ren, I'm bored __**now.**__" _Ren's eye twitched.

"And I'm tired _now._ Life isn't fair, Hikaru-senpai. I'm going back to sleep, okay? You go to sleep too, that way when you're bored later today, I can talk to you or whatever." It was silent on the other end and Ren thought maybe, _just maybe_, he had fallen asleep. "Hikaru-senpai?"

"…_I knew it."_

"Hikaru-senpai?"

"_Your other friends are more important. Why do you need them? You have us! They're more important to you, aren't they?!" _Ren decided to handle the exact same way she handled Lambo.

"Hikaru-kun. I don't rank my friends. You're all equal. I'm going to be seeing you guys more often now, so, I'd like it if you could contain yourself for a day and a half while I'm with my other friends. It's alright to have more than one group of friends. Do you understand?" Ren leaned her head back against the wall.

"…_I'm not five."_

"Well, you're acting like it. You're acting like Lambo when he doesn't get his way. Look, I can handle that attitude, but, it gets annoying, okay? You have Tamaki-senpai, Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai, Haruhi-senpai, Kyouya-senpai, and Kaoru-senpai to hang out with while I'm here. It's not all that bad." She could almost see the frown on his face. "Hikaru-senpai. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." She waited a moment to see if he would answer. It passed and she was just about to hang up.

"_Yea, g'night."_ She smiled, disconnecting and sneaking back into Kyoko's room, snuggling up in her sleeping bag once again.

* * *

The next day went by without conflict. They all went over to Tsuna's and hung out until a limo pulled right in-front of the boy's house. Nana had went to the door, opening it and smiling cheerfully. "Morning, Dino-kun~!"

Well... She got the blonde part right at-least.

Tamaki blinked at the petite woman. "Um, ma'am, my name is Tamaki…" Nana blinked up at the blonde. She gave a gasp, bring a hand to her cheek.

"Oh! How silly! Of-course! Ren said something about her boyfriend coming over and picking her up!" the woman turned to call into the house, "Ren-chan! Your boyfriend's here!" A squeal and feminine giggles.

"_Ren-chan! Was that who called you last night? Your boyfriend? Why didn't you tell us?"_ Tamaki was blinking rather rapidly at this point. Nana smiled brightly.

"Um. Ma'am. I'm a friend from school…"

"Eh? Oh. Ren-chan~! My mistake~! It's your school friend~!" The Ouran students sweatdropped. And thus a crash was heard.

"_Oi! You idiot! Stay away from me!"_

"_Gokudera-kun!" _

"_Aww, come on, Gokudera-kun! One hug!" _they recognized the voice as Ren's. "_Just one!"_

"_Juudaime! Help me! She's insane!"_ Laughter was heard and the silverette from yesterday came running out, Ren trailing after him, the children following after her, giggling and laughing. They passed the upper classmen and Gokudera starting running around the front-yard. Tsuna appeared in the doorway, eyes wide. "Juudaime! Help me!" Ren tackled him and Tsuna covered his face with his hands. The children jumped onto Gokudera's back, sitting there and laughing. "Juuudaaaiimmeee!" Tsuna looked up.

"Ren-chan, is that really necessary?" he asked. Ren gazed over at him, still sitting on his right hand man. "Ren-chan… Ah, Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta! Don't do that! Gokudera-kun's gonna get mad!" the children had begun jumping up and down. The girls, Yamamoto, and Ryohei come to the door. The girls giggled at Ren, Yamamoto laughed and Ryohei just grinned. "Ren-chan!"

"Gokudera-kun~! Can I have a hug~?"

"You're insane, woman!" Ren shrugged, not moving. "Don't make me force you off!" She stuck out her tongue and was surprised when she was suddenly lifted in the air. She looked up at Mori holding her up. Her feet dangled in the air.

"Eh? Mori-senpai? What's up?"

"Treat others how you want to be treated." He set her down and she put a hand under her chin, thinking.

"That _is_ a good point…" she eyed Gokudera. "But I don't think it applies here." Gokudera lunged for her and she shrieked, running toward the street. "Gokudera-kun! Don't hurt me! Ah! Nori! Save me!" and they were surprised when a dark haired man stopped in-front of the gate, Ren in his arms, bridal style. He was dressed casually and had deep brown eyes. Ren was smiling up at him and they found they had to restrain Tamaki once again.

"Alright. Who's 'Gokudera'?" the man looked at teens closely. Gokudera scowled at him.

"Who wants to know?" The man glanced down at Ren still in his arms, then back at the teen.

"…Ren, you're gonna have to let go."

"Kay~!" and so Ren was on her feet and the man gazed at Gokudera calmly. "Hey, hey, Nori, how ya been anyway?" The man closed his eyes briefly before running a hand through his hand. He looked at Gokudera.

"Alright, brat. We'll save this talk for later. Ren, some guy was looking for you last night." He stopped, turning to look at the older teens. "I'm wondering if it was anyone of you." The boys shook their heads. "Sure. Like I wasn't 17 once. Ren…"

"I'm actually leaving, but Gokudera-kun refused to give me a hug." The man hung his head. "Alright~! I'll see you later and stuff, kay kay? Kay~! Love you, bye-bye~!" she kissed his cheek and he patted her head, continuing down the street. The let Tamaki go after a moment. He was calm.

"Ren, who was that man?" Ren, because she wanted to see his reaction, answered as so:

"My lover."

Well. His reaction was interesting. His eyes got all wide really slowly and his jaw dropped open, as did everyone else in the groups'(see, even Tsuna and his guardians didn't know this man). "Y-y-you're w-what? Ren, you can't be serious! You're too young! Ohh, my poor little girl! She's been corrupted!" and he gathered her up in a huge hug, nearly crushing her rib cage. "This can't have been by your own free will! You poor, poor thing! Daddy will take you home and we'll never speak of this again! And you!" He glared fiercely at Tsuna, murderous intent covering him. "We'll discuss this later, because I _know_ you have something to do with this…" he growled. Ren was currently attempting to breathe, but, it wasn't working too well.

"Sen-pai!He's-my-brother!Nori!Sen-pai!I-can't-brea the!" she gasped. But alas, Tamaki wasn't paying attention. He was too busy scolding Tsuna rather fiercely. And so, our little heroine soon ran out of breath and suffocated and died in her 'father's' arms.

The end.

.

.

.

.

.

Kidding.

Reborn was the one who noticed she was running out of breath. He used the one thing that would be destined to work. It was a proven fact. "Ren, Calla's here." And Ren, with a surge of strength she only obtained when she learned Calla was in the vicinity, broke free of her 'father's' arms.

"Calla-chan!" and as she was excited, Tsuna was petrified. He dived behind Gokudera.

"Calla-san! I'm sorry! It wasn't my fault! Please don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me! I promise I won't do it again!" he begged for his life in the most pathetic voice he could muster. Reborn hid his smirk with his hat. Ren frowned, looking around. Tamaki's jaw was held open once again.

"Reborn, I don't see her…"

"She just left." Tsuna gave a sigh of relief and fell back onto the grass. "Oh well. Maybe next time. No-Good Tsuna. Stop sleeping." And the hitman kicked his student in the head. Tsuna went sprawling across the yard. "Good-bye Ren."

"Bye-bye Reborn!"

And so, they returned home without further incident. Tamaki now knew he did not like Tsuna. He also knew he was starting to dislike Ren's brother-and-sisters-that-weren't-really-brothers-a nd-sisters. The picnic went without a hitch and they didn't once talk about what had happened in Namimori. From that point on, it was telepathically decided that Ren's lives would be separate. Namimori would stay in Namimori and Ouran would stay with her grandmother. They wouldn't talk about anything or anyone they had just met. It would be much simpler this way.

And so the months passed. Ren finally got her Ouran uniform("Eww… the sun puked on it…") and finally faded into the background of Ouran. Well. For the most part anyway. Hanging out with the Hosts tended to set you apart from the other girls. And yes, she discovered that Haruhi was in-fact a girl, much to the surprise of the other hosts("Tamaki-senpai, why's Haruhi-senpai in the Host club if she's a girl?"). Every Friday evening, she would leave for Namimori and return at noon on Sunday. Nothing was said about her visits there.

And so, when December was upon them, Ren was looking forward to Christmas next week. She was excited about seeing her friends and making plans and making cookies with Nana, Kyoko, and Haru. Dino had even called a few nights earlier to say he was coming for Christmas. She was content.

* * *

I am making another chapter before Christmas, mark my words. I just wanna get this out. And I even incorporated another of Ren's family!

Alright, so, so far in the series we've met Shun(18) and Yuri(25), a brother and sister by blood and family to Ren by bond. Shun and Yuri do actually look like Ren, but Shun chooses to dye his hair black and wear colored contacts because he doesn't want to look related to Yuri. Shun's personality varies. He's pretty cool and cares for his family, no matter how much he pretends otherwise. Yuri likes to have fun is married to Kousuke and has a daughter, Hikari. We've also met Ren's older brother by bond, Nori(26). He has dark brown hair and dark eyes. He's rather quiet and a serious fellow. So, three down, eleven more to go~


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me and never shall. Sad, I know.

* * *

The young lady frowned. "You have _got_ to be kidding me." the man blinked over at her.

"Why'd you say that?"

"You are so not prepared for this weather. A t-shirt? And open jacket? Where's your hat, gloves, and scarf?" the man was silent. "…You leave me with no choice then."

* * *

Ren was finishing up the tree while her grandmother stood by, watching carefully. Crawling up the ladder, she hung the last ornament, shifting back a bit to admire her work. "Whaddya think grandma?"

"I think it looks fine dear." Ren beamed and Tomiko decided to wait a bit before telling her beloved granddaughter her news. "I hear Dino's coming with his fiancée."

And Ren almost fell off the ladder.

"What?! Dino's gettin' hitched?! To who?!" Tomiko rolled her eyes at her granddaughter.

"Some chick named Adrianna. Never met her. Some Italian girl. He's bringing her to dinner, so I guess I get to judge if she worthy of my nephew's attention." Tomiko stated, examining her nails calmly as Ren scrambled down the ladder. "Really Ren. You talk to him all the time."

"Not since he last came!" Tomiko glanced over at her.

"Oh? Hm." Ren looked around the room quickly.

"Quick Grandma! Where's the phone?!"

"In the other room." And Ren was running out into the hall, searching for the alleged room with the desperately needed phone. Tomiko rolled her eyes. "Roland~" Her butler appeared in the doorway. "Get the chefs started on tonight's dinner."

"Yes madam."

"_Yo. You've reached the blonde headed klutz. He's too busy falling down the stairs or something right now to answer, so, leave a message after the stupid little beep. Thanks." _Ren sweat-dropped at Dino's message that Calla had recorded for him. Of-course it would be like that… "_BEEP."_

"Dino, it's Ren. Are you seriously getting married?! And you didn't tell me?! I guess I'll see you when you get here, bye." She hung up, rather upset. And she had always thought she and Dino were close… "Grandma, I'll be up in my room if you need me," she called to the other room.

"Sure, alright dear." Ren sighed, moving toward the stairs. Tomiko leaned against the doorframe, watching her. "Roland. Get that boy on the phone. I want him here for dinner." Roland raised a brow.

"When you say 'that boy' are you meaning-"

"Yea, that one. And while you're at it, get those other boys here too." Roland looked surprised.

"But madam, Mr. Suoh told you of their-"

"Are you arguing with me?" Tomiko rose to her full height and, regardless of her calm voice and demeanor, Roland saw the darkness surrounding her.

"No madam. Right away madam." He bowed at the waist and made good his escape. Tomiko's face was void of all emotion as her butler walked calmly down the hall. Yes. She knew what Tamaki Suoh had said of the boys. She knew. Yet…

She slid down the doorframe, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees.

Yet she knew Ren was the happiest when she was with those boys, and regardless of what Tamaki Suoh thought, Tomiko knew the boys were… well. They were, shall we say students? of her former fiancé. So she knew they couldn't be all that bad. After-all. Her ex-fiancé would never do anything to _really_ put them in danger. He was making them strong for the world that was to come. Yes. Tomiko knew that. Timoteo was a good man.

* * *

Ren was laying on her bed staring at her ceiling. She was wondering when she and Dino drifted apart. Was it after that summer? Or after she had met Calla? Thinking of that summer caused her to frown. The accident hadn't _entirely_ been Dino's fault. It's not like he had ordered a hit on his own family, or that the bullet had strayed and almost hit her. Or that she had taken one of the nearby standing subordinate's gun and shot and killed the sniper _with a revolver_. So, technically speaking, it was her fault. She had insisted she go to Italy with her cousin after he offered. Her parents had tried to talk her out of it, but she was stubborn. So, she had gone and that's when she was introduced to the mafia. Through an accident that wasn't entirely her cousin's fault. Though, she did learn how to defend herself, and how to handle a gun. That's also when she met Reborn, introduced to Tsuna and his new growing Family, and officially becoming part of the Vongola Famiglia, most specifically, part of Tsuna's Family. But… that was also when Tomiko had started fighting for her custody, even though her son and daughter-in-law were capable parents.

Ren rolled over onto her stomach, burying her head in the pillow. Why her grandmother had started that whole nightmare was beyond Ren's imagining. All Ren had ever wanted was to have friends and stay in Namimori with her family, as odd as her family was. It was a good thing that none of her brothers and sisters knew about this… situation, though, Yuri and Shun seemed like they were starting to figure it out. And to be honest, she didn't know how much longer she could hide from her older sister Akemi. Akemi was older by 3 years and also enrolled in Ouran, though it was due to scholarship. She would graduate in 2 years or so, but, Ren was only one year behind her. She was concerned that Akemi would see her in the hall, wonder why she was here, talk to her friends, and figure out that Ren had been removed from her parent's custody.

That's what Ren was afraid of. Akemi was on good terms with _all_ their siblings, thus, it would only be a simple phone call to them to tell them the situation. Then they would be on her grandmother's doorstep, _demanding_ Ren be returned to Namimori.

Ren could deal with her family, but, Tomiko would have no patience with the _commoners_ and would have them all arrested.

Ren shifted her head a bit and saw herself in the mirror. What she hated most about herself was that she was too weak to rebel, to _not_ obey when told to do something. Her grandmother had complete control over her and if she ordered that Ren not go to Namimori anymore… Ren wouldn't be able to say no. That was the upsetting thing. That's why she didn't want her family to know about this, regardless of how alone she felt, even with her new friends at Ouran. Sure, they were nice… but…

* * *

Tomiko stood at the door, waiting patiently. She knew they would be arriving any minute. Any minute now. She grinned at the sight of a limo. She pushed open the heavy doors, allowing light to fall onto the carpet of the main hallway. She smiled at the young men appearing from the vehicle. She wasn't surprised to see the girl. Roland had told her that a young lady would also be attending. The men were dressed nicely in suits or dress pants, a white shirt and a black vest. The girl wore a simple pale purple dress. "Welcome. I hope you enjoy the dinner that's been prepared." Tomiko stated. The Ouran students smiled. Tamaki strode forward, shaking the offered hand.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kuroki. It's such an honor to be here." Tomiko smiled lightly and gave a nod.

"Please come in. Roland will show you to the sitting room while we await the rest of our guests." She indicated to the inside where Roland stood waiting. The Ouran students nodded to her as they passed, following after Roland. Tomiko closed the doors, wondering if she should go wake Ren and have one of the servants get the guests, or stay for the guests and have one of the servants wake Ren. It was a difficult decision…

One that didn't need to be made. Another identical limo appeared and Tomiko smiled. For once Taiki was on time. The door opened and Tomiko beamed brightly at her nephew. Dino was dressed nice for once, not the usual casual clothes that Tomiko despised. A black suit and a simple black tie. Tomiko flung open the door. "Dino darling~! You look simply splendid~!" she cheered. Dino looked up at her and smiled.

"Thanks Auntie. I-"

"_Oi. Blondie. You're blocking traffic."_ A voice from inside the limo stated. Tomiko decided whoever said that, she didn't like them. Insulting her nephew. Disgraceful. Dino moved out of the way quickly, even offering his hand to help whoever it was out. A slender, obviously female, hand took his. Tomiko looked carefully. This was his fiancée, Adrianna. Her head popped out first, deep brown hair and bright green eyes. Her hair was down and swayed lightly as she stepped out. A red halter top with light red separate kimono-like sleeves. A deep gray long pleated skirt with two black belts positioned diagonally over her hips. Light brown tights and… black combat boots. Tomiko refrained from having her jaw drop. This girl was perfect except for the belts and combat boots.

Dino released her hand and she moved away from the car. What followed was a fair amount of teenagers, mostly boys with two girls, and four children, one of which was clinging tightly to Adrianna's leg. The boys were dressed differently. The dark haired one wore a navy blue suit, a white undershirt, and a navy blue tie. The one with the silver hair wore a black suit, light purple undershirt, and a navy tie. The white haired hyper looking kid had a black suit, blue undershirt, and a maroon tie. Tomiko wondered about him. And Hibari, the one she was convinced would marry Ren, wore a black suit, deep purple undershirt and a black tie. The one with the messy brown hair wore a black suit, deep red undershirt and a black tie with gray polka dots.

The girls were fine though. The one with the orange hair wore a light pink dress and the one with the brown hair done up in pigtails had a light green dress. Tomiko frowned lightly at the boys, wondering why some of them didn't comb their hair. Apparently, Dino's fiancée had the same idea.

"Tsuna. Your hair?" The one she called Tsuna, the one with the messy brown hair, blinked, looking around quickly."Alright. Now, hold still." Tsuna's hair was combed back, but, right when the girl nodded, satisfied, his hair poofed back up. She frowned and Tsuna shrugged. "Well. Guess that's the best I can do." She shoved the comb back into her pocket and two girls giggled, going toward their friend. Dino patted Tsuna on the shoulder, moving toward his aunt.

"Auntie, this is my little bro, Tsuna." He indicated to the messy brown haired boy. Tsuna smiled hesitantly. Tomiko didn't.

"Ah yes. Tamaki Suoh has told me _so_ much about you." Tsuna shrank back behind Dino. Dino rubbed that back of his head.

"Y-yea, well, these are his friends, Ryohei and Kyoko Sasagawa, Haru Miura, Hayato Gokudera, and Takeshi Yamamoto. The kids are Fuuta, Lambo, I-Pin, and Reborn." Dino indicated to each in turn. Tomiko sent a sweet smile to her nephew.

"And I take it this young lady is the fiancée you told me about?" Tsuna almost fainted right then and there. Kyoko and Haru looked up at their senpai in wonder. The lady in question paused before smiling brightly.

"I'm Callanthia Adrianna Sorrentio, but everyone calls me Calla, Mrs. Kuroki. It truly is a pleasure to meet you. Dino here has told me so much about you." She gave a cute little curtsy. Tomiko raised a brow at her nephew.

"You told me her name was Adrianna, Dino." Calla gave a little laugh, wrapping her arm around Dino's. He paled.

"He's the only one who calls me that. I think it's simply adorable." Tomiko smiled. She was starting to like this girl.

"Please. Come in and sit down. Roland will lead the way. I must go and prepare my granddaughter." Tomiko indicated to the door where her butler appeared, ready to escort them. Tomiko made her way up the stairs and once she was gone Calla set her sights on the Cavallone. Tsuna was petrified.

* * *

The Ouran students were quietly sipping tea when they heard the voices. _"I can't believe you. Your fiancée? As if I would ever marry you. What gave you the idiotic idea to tell her we were gonna get married? Did you really think I would approve of this? What the hell is wrong with you Cavallone?"_ The teens looked at one another.

"_Alfonso-"_

"_ALFONSO?! YOU BELIEVED SOMETHING HE TOLD YOU?! THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY MESSED UP WITH YOU! If the kids weren't here right now, I swear Cavallone, I would kill you right here. I don't care if it would cause problems with our families. Who cares about the friendship between them!"_

"_But-"_

"_I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT. I only came to see Ren, since you fail to inform me when you go to Japan. Which brings up this question: WHY DO YOU ALWAYS LEAVE ME WITH YOUR DERANGED FAMILY?! THEY'RE INSANE! __**THEY ALWAYS TRY TO TALK ME INTO MARRYING YOU!**__ Wait a minute… THAT'S WHERE YOU GOT THE IDEA, WASN'T IT?!" _ the door opened and they were surprised to see a rather pretty lady standing there. "Oh look. They heard our conversation, _dear._" She commented in a blank voice. Tamaki was surprised and upset to see the Namimori kids standing behind her. "To clear up any and all questions, it's an arranged marriage one that wasn't supposed to be known until 3 months from now." She said simply. Kyouya gazed at her curiously, as did Tamaki. "Name's Calla, call me Calla. Anyone who touches me will be slammed into a wall." Dino laid a hand on her shoulder, about to say something, but she grabbed said hand and flipped him over her shoulder. He landed on the ground with a heavy thud, the Namimori kids leaping back while the Ouran kids moved as far away as possible from her. She looked down at her _fiancé_ calmly. "That includes you."

"Oww…" Calla seated herself calmly on the couch. The child known as Lambo hopped up beside her.

"Calla-chan, will the stupid turtle man be alright?" Calla looked down at him and all the kids were surprised to see a rather motherly love in her eyes.

"Yes Lambo. He'll be fine. I don't think I broke any ribs or his spine for that matter. Just his pride of being beaten by me, especially in a skirt." She patted his head and he beamed up at her. Kyoko and Haru approached her warily.

"C-calla-san?" Kyoko questioned. Calla smiled up at her and the two relaxed.

"Yea-huh?" They seated themselves next to her. The boys, deciding she was calmer now, sat on the couches opposite her. The Ouran students moved back into their original seats.

"Do you… do you think you'll ever get married?" Calla rolled her eyes.

"Psh. Who knows. Adult Lambo came and spilled the beans about me having a boyfriend." The twins pricked their ears at the name.

"Adult Lambo?"

"And you're Calla?" She leaned forward, gazing at them from around Kyoko and Haru.

"…Do I know you kids?"

"No."

"Cool. Fair 'nuff. So what's this 'bout me?" They were shocked to find she wasn't all that hard to talk to.

"A guy named Adult Lambo came and said that you told him to tell us that you 'thought it was a fabulous wedding'." Calla blinked.

"Mind running that by me again?" Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other. Calla looked down at Lambo seated in her lap. "What did you do little brother?"

"Lambo-san didn't do anything!"

"Yes you did. You set off the bazooka again, didn't you?" Lambo's eyes welled up with tears.

"Lambo-san didn't mean it! Bakadera got Lambo-san all upset again!" he wailed. Calla's aura turned dark and Tsuna brought his arms up quickly.

"Gokudera…"

"HIIIII! C-C-CALLA-CHAN! PLE-PLEASE DON'T GET MAD!" Tsuna wailed. The Ouran students watched in confusion as Fuuta, the innocent little 10-year-old came up.

"Calla-nee-chan~ Please don't get mad again." He put his hand on her knee and she closed her eyes slowly. Fuuta beamed up at her. "Yay, Calla-chan's calmed down~!" Calla opened her eyes and smiled down at him.

"Arigato, Fuuta-kun." She said softly, patting his head. He hopped up beside Kyoko as Calla stood up. Tsuna feared the worst. She frowned at Gokudera and he scowled at her. "I don't like you and you don't like me. We agree on that. Don't get Lambo riled up and I won't have to do the same thing to you as I did to the blonde here." She looked down at Dino and Gokudera averted his eyes. "Oi, Cavallone. Get up already. Nap-time's over." Dino groaned and Calla crouched down next to him. "Diiino, come on. Wake up. Where's your pride as a man?" Tamaki watched quietly while Honey sat next to him. He came to a shocking conclusion.

"You _do_ care for him!" he declared. Calla slowly turned and looked at him, raising a brow.

"Yea. If I don't, my uncle will hurt me, his aunt will hurt me, and his family will hurt me. It's just that simple. Now, uppsie-daisy Cavallone," she said, reaching under his back and hefting him up, her arm around his middle to support him as he stood, wobbling. "God Dino. You're heavy…"

* * *

Well. I lied. I was… 2 days off. Sorry. I just seriously wasn't in the mood to write, regardless of the promise that I made(which I never kept) I'll upload the 2nd part to this later this week, kay? By the way, Tsuna and his friends' attire came from episode… 51? Where Bianchi and Reborn are gonna get married. Dino's I got from the Inheritance Ceremony, and Hibari's attire I got from the future. YAY.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me and never shall. Yes, I'm very upset about this too.

* * *

Ren joined them shortly before they went into the dining room, all of them rising to greet her. She had only seen her Namimori friends at first, hugging them all tightly(except for Hiabri. She avoided eye contact with him). She had promptly froze at the sight of Calla and Dino sitting close(Dino was leaning against her cuz he was still half unconscious) together. Then she squealed excitedly. "Calla-chan! You're Dino's fiancée? Yay~!" Calla rolled her eyes over how excited the younger girl was.

"Rosabella says hi." Both Ren and Gokudera stopped whatever they were doing to pale and look over at her. Calla smiled. "She was thinking about coming here and seeing you guys again."

"O-oh? How nice… I-isn't that nice, Gokudera-kun?" Ren stammered, gazing at her companion classmate. Gokudera averted his eyes, not answering.

"Yes. Fortunately I talked her out of it with a few words on how the wedding was coming along. You lucky kids. And no, Ren. I wouldn't marry your cousin even if he was the last man on Earth." Ren gave a smile, matching Calla's own.

"Calla-chan, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?"

"Nope. He deserves the honest truth." Dino(still leaning against her) opened one eye blearily.

"Come on… Calla… That's cruel…" Calla ignored him. Ren turned and looked back at her friends, finally noticing the students from Ouran.

"Oh! Senpais! Hi!" Hikaru and Kaoru gave identical waves while Tamaki simply gave a slight smile and a nod. Mori glanced over at her while Honey waved excitedly.

"Ren-chan~! Your grandma invited us for dinner!" And Ren was smiling brightly.

"Yea, I know. She just actually woke me up." Honey tilted his head to the side slightly, getting the cutest look on his face.

"You were taking a nap, Ren-chan?" Ren paused a moment, looking at the clock.

"I just kinda… fell asleep. Anyway, no one else is coming, right?" they all looked at her and Calla shifted a bit, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the window. "Cause grandma said we were waiting for someone… Bianchi-san isn't coming, is she?" Gokudera stiffened, shaking his head furiously. "Oh."Calla rose gracefully from the couch, letting Dino fall to his side, wincing in pain. She then proceded to go and stand by the doorway. Tsuna rushed over, trying to help him back upright. It was a tough struggle, but Tsuna would do it for his older brother. Ren moved over next to Tsuna, helping him with her cousin. Dino gave them both grateful smiles, but his eyes shifted to the door where Calla stood. Ren gave Tsuna a look and the boy looked back at her stupidly.

"So, Dino, why'd you lie to grandma?" the blonde winced and Ren gave an innocent look over to him, knowing she hit a sore spot.

"It's a long story, Ren… S-some other time perhaps…"

* * *

All through dinner, Dino had been falling asleep, so, Calla kept repeatedly kicking him. He winced, but said nothing. Tomiko found her soon-to-be niece was a very interesting person to talk to. Calla was well versed in many subjects, which she found somewhat odd for just a normal Italian girl. But she told herself that a girl would have to be like this if she was really best for her beloved nephew. Yet… She still found it odd. Tomiko had worked on the seating arrangement since the call had been put out only 3 hours prior. She was extremely proud of herself and called the arrangement 'strategical'.

Ren called it a disaster just waiting to happen.

Tomiko sat at the head, with Dino seated across the way. Calla sat to his left, with Kyouya on the right. Reborn sat next to Kyouya, then Gokudera, Tsuna, Hikaru, Ren, Hibari, Honey, Mori and Ryohei. Seated next to Calla was Haruhi, then Yamamoto, Tamaki, Kaoru, Kyoko, Lambo, Fuuta, I-Pin, and Haru. Ryohei was upset because he wasn't close enough to his sister, Tamaki wasn't close enough to Haruhi(and Tsuna sat right across from him so Tamaki could glare at the poor boy all he wanted.) and Gokudera was upset because Yamamoto sat across from him, so now he would have to see his 'stupid, smiling face' every time he looked up, though, the fact that he sat next to his beloved 'Juudaime' made up for it. Hibari(he wouldn't admit it of-course) was also rather frustrated with the arrangements. He had noticed during the time before they were brought to the dining room that who he sat next to(Honey) was still(kinda) a child and rather hyper. And the fact that Tomiko kept looking over at him and giving a goofy grin wasn't helping(She insisted—in her head of-course—that if he and Ren just got to know each other better they'd be a match made in heaven and would get married right after high school, have kids, and live happily ever after). Thus, the dining room was not a place filled with a lot of happy feelings at the moment.

Yet, Tomiko knew this and kept it this way purposefully.

She smiled at everyone gathered there before snapping her fingers. Some of the many maids and butlers came then, placing down the trays in-front of each of the guests with care. Haru and Kyoko made sure to help Lambo and I-Pin, trusting Fuuta to be able to behave properly. It was only Lambo they were really concerned about though. Ren smiled, but immediately looked down when she saw Hibari's disapproving gaze. Quite frankly, she wondered why he even came. He didn't get along with the rest of the Guardians, and she didn't believe that he would get along with her upper-classmen friends either. She noticed Hikaru frowning at the Vongola Decimo seated beside him and decided right then and there that she should just give up and go back to her room. She was about to rise and retreat to her room, giving some sort of fake excuse, but the look that Tomiko gave her, the one that made Ren rethink her idea that her grandmother _couldn't_ read minds, made her stay where she was and poke at her food, her bangs covering her eyes so no one could see the fear there.

Hikaru glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He nudged her slightly and she peeked out from behind the veil of hair. She gave him a questioning look and he gave a slight cough. No one noticed. "Y-you look nice." He was able to say. It was true. Compared to her usual tom-boy style clothing he saw her in when they weren't in school, the kinda-poofy black skirt and dark green top did look nice. She gave a smile, still wary of Hibari's dark looks.

"Thanks. Grandma just kinda threw it at me and told me to change because we had guests." She didn't notice that Tomiko had been paying attention to the two thus far. She raised a brow, tuning out Ryohei's (loud) attempts at conversation with Mori. Seeing the Hitachiin for really the first time, she added him to her list of potential husbands for her granddaughter. So far, the number of young men on the list equaled two. Hibari and Hikaru.

Hikaru nodded. "Did you seriously just wake up from a nap?"

"Yea. Grandma tossed me off the bed." Hikaru sweat-dropped, glancing down the table at Tomiko. She gave a pleasant smile and Hibari was just glad that she wasn't staring at _him_ anymore. He didn't like attention, nor did he like crowds. He _especially_ didn't like a big gathering of weak herbivores all talking at once and being social. Coupled with that fact that he couldn't do anything to said weak herbivores made Hibari one _very_ unhappy camper. Ren didn't notice his darkening looks as she continued her conversation with Hikaru, the two slowly relaxing.

Calla, however, noticed. Noticed how he was not happy, how he glared at everyone. Especially the young man seated on Ren's other side. She gave a grin and Dino glanced over at her. "Something funny?"

"Sure. Your student."

"Hmm? Kyoya?" Dino looked down the table at Hibari while Kyouya Ootori looked up upon hearing his name. Calla waved him off.

"Not you, darling. The annoying brat." Kyouya gave her a pleasant smile, which she returned easily. Dino frowned at her before turning his gaze back to Hibari.

"I wonder what's gotten into him… He seems more bad-tempered than usual." Calla rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her water before resting her chin in her hand.

"It's not that hard to guess. He's jealous."

Dino looked at her and his thoughts obviously said, 'You're a loon.' "Of what?"

"Of that kid. Ahh, now what was his name? Hikaru? Yea, one of them twins." Kyouya decided this conversation might be interesting.

"Why would Kyoya be jealous of him?" Calla gave him a look that obviously said that _she_ thought _he_ was crazy.

"Think, Cavallone." She ordered. Dino gave her a blank look. "I don't know why Romario thinks you're a genius. Guess the study didn't include women. Alright, Boss, I'll spell it out for you. Hibari has a crush. He-"

"On who? How do you know?"

"…Do you want me to break some ribs this time? Then don't interrupt." Dino gave a nod and she continued. "It's quite obvious he has a crush on Ren." She held up a hand before he could interrupt again. "Why is he trying so hard to get her back in Namimori? Think, Boss. Ren's a good girl, doesn't misbehave, follows orders. She has good grades in school. And don't forget she's pretty. I'd say she takes after her mother's side." She held her glass up, examining it calmly. "Skilled in combat, not afraid of Hibari when she takes on her other self. She's interesting and doesn't always do what's expected. Guys, this includes you Boss, are almost always attracted to the girl who's interesting, the one they can't always understand, the one who spices things up. I mean, why else would you keep me around so long?" she stuck her tongue out at him as he started to protest. "Seriously, Boss. 5 years? Come on now. Even my own Uncle got tired of me, that's why he's marrying Rosabella." She gave a light laugh at how distraught Dino looked. "Don't look at me like that. I'm kidding. If I wanted to leave I would, but, where would I go, hmm?

Kyouya decided that there was a lot more going on then what these Namimori people and their friends were letting on.

* * *

It was some time later when dinner was finished and Tomiko led everyone into a large sitting room. She watched Calla and Dino. Dino sat and after a moment Calla sat beside him. Tomiko liked that they got along well. If they didn't, she would have to tell Dino that he could do better.

Then she'd give him a list of possible wives she had complied for him.

She watched as they spoke quietly, not knowing this was all for show, just a façade created for her and her alone. Everyone else knew they were _not_ a happy couple. Tomiko had been surprised when Hibari had sat alone at the window, as far away from everyone else as possible. She still had her heart set on  
Ren marrying him, but then again, she did look like she was getting along well with the Hitachiin. Tomiko would give it another few months or so before she was completely sold on the idea of those two together.

Tsuna stayed as far away from Tamaki and Hibari as possible, choosing to sit with his friends. Haruhi and Kaoru had joined them and they were talking with the girls. They seemed to get along, so Tsuna was happy they made new friends. Gokudera was glowering at Yamamto and Ryohei, the two talking with Honey and that stoic… man? Mori. Something about sports, from what Tsuna could make out. I-Pin and Lambo were conked out on the couch, lying on Haru and Kyoko's laps, Fuuta leaning sleepily against Kyoko. He smiled at them all before glancing over at Calla and Dino. He knew she wasn't happy with the situation, but Dino didn't exactly look like he minded, to be honest. Tsuna smiled. As long as Calla wasn't trying to kill him(him being Tsuna himself or Dino) or being overly aggressive, it was always nice having her around.

Tamaki sat close to Haruhi, not exactly joining in the conversation, but adding what he thought every now and again. Kyouya sat on the couch a few feet away, writing away in his notebook. Reborn was content to just sit with the girls and study the Ouran students with them. Tsuna was glad everyone was getting along. The kids had behaved relatively well, no fights had broken out, and Gokudera hadn't started throwing his dynamite around. All in all, it had been a good time.

Now if only he could get Tamaki to stop glaring at him.

* * *

The first limo had pulled up. It was the one for those from Namimori. Ren was upset to see her friends leave, but knew she would see them all again in a few days and actually stay longer since it was break. She hugged them all(except for Hibari) and said it was nice seeing them. She hadn't seen the Ouran limo pull up, the upperclassmen all moving toward the door as well. Her friends had barely started toward their designated vehicle when Hikaru's hand brushed against hers lightly. She turned to see him just as surprised.

"-said you'd be here, Dino." She turned to look at her grandmother in-front of the Namimori limo. Dino's and Calla's hands were clasped together in the façade they were still wearing for Tomiko.

"Auntie," Dino ran his free hand through his hair. "I already made-"

"Dino." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you saying that you'd rather spend the night in a hotel than with family that you see _rarely_?"

"Yes." Tomiko rolled her eyes.

"I understand Ren can be somewhat… hmm… strong-willed? at times, but, being her family you just have to deal with it." Dino and Ren were both thinking that Tomiko got herself and her granddaughter mixed up. "Now, kiss her good-night and wave good-bye. You're staying here tonight. Tomorrow you can sleep in the hotel." Tomiko ordered. Dino winced and looked at Calla. She raised a brow, most likely amused at the fact that his aunt had control over him.

"G-good-night, Calla…" he said, then whispered something quickly before kissing her full on the mouth.

Tsuna's jaw dropped and his eyes pooped out. Haru and Kyoko gasped, their eyes bright. Gokudera looked away. Ryohei screamed something about extreme while Yamamoto laughed at his senpai. Tamaki smiled fondly and Honey giggled. Mori's face didn't change. Haruhi gave a light smile, wishing them well. Kyouya adjusted his glasses before writing something down. Hikaru was still standing in the doorway with Ren while Kaoru gave a grin in the couple's direction.

Calla looked away, her cheeks singed pink. Tsuna was mentally preparing himself for the outrage she would unleash in the limo. Tomiko nodded. "Wonderful. Now, wave to your friends, nephew. It's getting quite late." Dino turned away from Calla, but she grabbed his sleeve, pulling him down so she could murmur something in his ear. His eyes widened, but he nodded all the same. He moved up the steps, pulling Hibari aside to talk with him. Tsuna figured it was to tell him not to try and engage Calla in a fight while she was she still in outrage over what just happened.

Ren looked back at Hikaru, who looked down at her. "Well… um… good-night then, Hikaru-senpai. I had fun." She smiled and he took her hand gently. She blinked down at their hands, then looked back up at him. He leaned in quickly, kissing her cheek before departing, practically diving into his designated limo. She stood still, her eyes wide. Tomiko gave her a nudge and she fell forward, saving herself from the humiliation of falling at the last second. Hibari stood in-front of her, clearly not amused. "A-ah! Hibari-san! I hope you had a good night!" she bowed quickly.

When he said nothing, she looked up cautiously. "It could've been worse."

And then he moved down the stairs and stepped into the limo, the door closing behind him. Ren stood there, quite shocked. Dino rested his arm on the top of her head, watching as the two dark vehicles moved into opposite directions. "Hm. Seems like Kyoya was in a good mood. He was pretty nice."

"I think he might be sick."

"You're probably right. Food poisoning." Dino agreed with her, thanking whatever god was watching over them that Calla's warning that the twin was gonna kiss his cousin was true. Had Hibari had seen that…

Well. Dino wouldn't have been able to contain the teen's rage being along the lines of 'He's contaminating Namimori's student.' Or some other complete nonsense like that. Calla was right.

Hibari did have a crush.

* * *

Ren was awaken by soft light filtering through her window. She made a noise in the back of her throat before sitting up and gazing sleepily at said window. The sky was a pale blue with soft white flakes coming down. She struggled out of the comforter and stepped onto the floor, moving toward the window and pressing her hand against the cold pane of glass. She smiled at the think snow that already covered the ground.

Christmas Eve was here finally.

* * *

I lied. Again. Sorry.

I think I'll have the next part out later, meaning, possibly later today or even later this week. This part just went longer than I thought it would. But hey. Twas interesting, no?


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me and never will.

* * *

"Grandma! Grandma Grandma! It's sno- Grandma?" Ren had just run down the hall of the west wing, the stairs, and through half the house to the living room where she knew her grandmother would be having coffee. Tomiko always went to that room before her work day began to look out the window and be in the calm and quiet before the chaos of her work began.

This routine included holidays.

Tomiko was sitting, talking to someone, or she used to be until Ren appeared. When her grandmother turned to look at her, Ren was suddenly aware of the fact that she was wearing short-shorts and a tank-top, her pajamas.

Her face heated up rather quickly into a bright red. "U-um, I'll g-go get dressed now…" And she promptly fled back up the way she had just come.

* * *

Tomiko leaned against the wall next to the door, sighing and rapping her knuckles against the wood for the third time. "Ren, Darling, come on out now." She droned in a monotone. Really. It wasn't _that_ bad.

"_No! Grandma, this is too embarrassing! What if she saw me like that?!"_ Ren wailed from inside.

"He. Our guest is a guy, Ren." Tomiko corrected boredly. This delay was not helping.

"_Even worse!"_ Tomiko rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic. I don't think he minded."

"_GRANDMA!"_ Tomiko shrugged. She was just being honest. "_I'm not coming out till it's time to go home to Namimori!"_ Ren declared and Tomiko froze, her hand halfway up to knock on the door once again. "_So, just stop and go back and talk with the guy!"_ Tomiko's lip twitched slightly. When did her granddaughter become such a brat? It must've been all that time spent in Namimori. She, Tomiko decided, was right in making this decision. It would help her granddaughter with her future and her manners tremendously.

"Ren, come out already. We need to talk about that issue." Tomiko jiggled the knob.

Locked.

Of-course.

"_Like I said, I'm not coming out until it's time to leave for Namimori!" _Ren insisted from inside.

Tomiko's patience was slowly and steadily thinning. She can only put up with so much after-all. "Ren, I _demand_ that you to open this door right now."

"_No!"_ Tomiko narrowed her eyes.

"Ren Hiroko Kuroki, I _order_ you to unlock this door this minute!"

It was silent on the other side.

"Ren. I'm going to count to 3. You had better have this door open by then. 1… 2…" She heard footsteps come close and then stop right in-front of the door. Tomiko was getting tired of this already. "Ren. Unlock it."

"_No thank you, grandma… You're mad…"_ Tomiko released a long breath before she spoke, trying to calm herself and quiet her voice. It wouldn't do if Ren didn't listen to what she had to say.

"Ren. Please come out. We need to discuss something very important."

"_Calla and Dino are getting married?"_ Tomiko hit herself in the forehead. _Of-course_ her granddaughter would bring her klutz of a cousin into the conversation and change the subject

"No. Not yet anyway. From what Dino said, Calla's family is busy at the minute so the wedding won't be until late next year. But that's not what I want to talk about. Can you please just unlock the door?" Tomiko tapped her foot impatiently.

"_I'd like to stay in here, if you don't mind."_ Tomiko's eye twitched.

Her granddaughter was being smart. Kuroki's were never smart to their elder family members. Takumi had been and look what happened to him. They haven't talked in _years_ and he got his daughter taken from him. And not to mention that he wouldn't inherit _anything_ from her.

"Ren. You're trying my patience. Very much so, in-fact. I was hoping we could have a nice, _civilized_ talk, but I realized those… insufficient friends of yours' have really rubbed off on you, so much so that you're not yourself. Let's try to continue this calmly, _in the living room_."

"_I refuse your invitation."_ Tomiko massaged her temples.

"Ren. I realize that you're not yourself. My theory is you're sick. If you weren't sick, you wouldn't be acting this way. Shall we call a doctor and have them _break down the door_?"

"_It's your door. You're paying for it." _

She was really asking for it for acting this way…

Tomiko calmed herself once again before she spoke, breaking the news that she had been holding for quite some time to her granddaughter. "Ren. I hereby forbid you to travel to Namimori anymore. It's been agreed that you'll stay here until you're a legal adult at 18. Any and all contact with those in or from Namimori is strictly forbidden. As much as I hate to do so, it also includes that charming young man, Hibari Kyoya. You will remain here until-" the sound of breaking glass was heard and Tomiko could've sworn she heard a gunshot. "Ren? Ren, are you alright?! Ren, answer me!"

There was no answer.

"ROLAND! ROLAND CALL THE POLICE! REN'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!" Tomiko screamed, rushing down the hall.

* * *

"Reborn, what do you mean there's still an ally in Namimori?!" Tsuna cried in surprise. His home tutor had told them all that any and all allies in and around Namimori were either killed, hiding underground, or in another country hoping to avoid the enemy family, the Millefiore. If there was still an ally, did the Millefiore not know about him? Or did they think he wasn't a threat? If he wasn't a threat, why was he in the Vongola, much less the Mafia? Reborn shielded his eyes with his hat. "Reborn?" Tsuna questioned once again. Gokudera frowned.

"Oi, Reborn, he's on our side then, right? Why don't we go and get him?" Reborn was silent and Fuuta was afraid that Reborn might actually tell them the situation. Yamamoto glanced between all of them. "Reborn. We can go out, get him, and get back in the base within an hour, tops." Gokudera stated. Fuuta sighed and shook his head.

"Fuuta? You know something about this guy?" Tsuna noticed the movement and looked over at the man. Fuuta flinched as Reborn's stern gaze fell onto him. He remained silent, for fear of angering the Arcobaleno.

"…He's been out of action for quite some time. And old friend. 10 years retired. If we bring him here, Hibari will flip." Reborn finally said. Tsuna hung his head.

"Oh…"

Well. There went pretty much their last hope. Even if they were an ally, they wouldn't come if they knew Hibari was here. They especially wouldn't come if they knew Hibari would get angry at seeing them. Heck, if there was even a small chance of Hibari being upset, _Tsuna_ wouldn't even come, regardless if he was supposed to be the Boss. Yamamoto patted his shoulder kindly and Tsuna looked up at him.

Gokudera frowned. He wanted to help his boss, but if Reborn said Hibari would flip, he quite literally meant that the man would go on a rampage just for seeing this ally. He 'humph'ed, crossing his arms over his chest. "If he'll help, I don't think Hibari will mind. We're all going for the same goal here." he declared. Usually, this was the case: People put aside their differences to achieve a common goal. That simple. Everyone wins and sometimes the former enemies become… acquaintances, maybe even friends.

Reborn smirked.

Oh how stupid his students are.

"Hibari won't be pleased, of that I can assure you. He'll attack him on sight, possibly even killing him. I guarantee it. Fuuta, would Hibari do that?" Fuuta blinked before nodding grimly.

"Yes." Tsuna and Gokudera hung their heads. Any hope of allies was shot down.

"But," Reborn continued, "If you really want, I can call him and see if he'll come, regardless of the threat of Hibari."

"Why don't you call him? Maybe he and Hibari will end up getting along?" Yamamoto suggested brightly. Gokudera was about to yell at him for being an idiot, but Reborn spoke first.

"Alright. It's decided then. I'll call him. You three. Go to bed. It's late already. You have training in the morning. Hibari doesn't tolerate lateness, you should know that Tsuna." Reborn ordered. The three nodded, Tsuna paling as well, agreeing that they would get some sleep. They then left, calling 'good-night' to Fuuta on the way out. Fuuta waved back at them. When the doors finally closed, he looked over at Reborn quietly.

"Reborn-san, are you really going to call him?" Reborn nodded, walking across the table to the laptop, typing in a few words and smirking when the result came up. Fuuta shook his head and excused himself for the night, leaving Reborn alone to make his call. He really hoped this would work. They needed all the help they could get.

Reborn gazed at the result quietly for a few minutes in thought before he picked up one of the portable phones that was always lying around.

Almost 10 years it had apparently been since he was in action and no longer involved in the mafia, regardless of his ties. Reborn still remembered the first day they met, oh-so-long ago. He smiled slightly, but then frowned. He didn't quite understand all that had happened with him and why exactly he had retired, but, Reborn knew that it was a family problem, something about his mother.

He shook his head, pressing the keys and dialing the number.

And so the wait began.

* * *

A sharp ring cut through the air and a groan was heard from under the comforter. A hand reached out, feeling around for the phone that was lying on the bedside table. It fell on-top of the phone, clutching it and bringing it to the pillow. Pressing the wrong button, they accidently turned off the phone.

Another groan and then the wait for the phone to turn back on began.

It was an older model of the phone, one that never seemed to want to start up once it was turned off. The comforter shifted slightly as they began sitting up, becoming more awake.

Arms wrapped around the body, restraining any more movement. "Hey… What's up…?" a voice murmured.

"The phone… Someone called, but I accidently hung up." The first person said tiredly, shaking their head. This happened quite often. It wasn't anything new.

"Mmm, now what does that mean?" The second person kissed the first's neck lightly, giving them an idea.

"Aha. It's back on." The first pulled out of their partner's grasp(much to their disappointment) and stood up before they could entrap them once again. "I'll be back in a minute."

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Some noise in the dark and they both squinted from the bright light that was from the bathroom. The first person, a woman, turned the second light on, a dimmer light, and turned the first light off. She looked at the general direction of where the bed was, smiling softly, still somewhat asleep.

"I knew there was some reason I married you. You always remind me of it, especially when I try to get out of bed." She looked in the mirror at her hair and rolled her eyes. "Wow, I look beauteous. Alright…" she flipped open the phone, clicking a few buttons. "Let's see who called…" she squinted at the phone. "Forgot my glasses…" she muttered, bringing the device close to her face to read the number. "Huh."

"What?" her husband called from the bed.

"Not a number I know. You know it?" she rattled off said number and there was some slight shuffling. "Oh? You awake now? Sorry." Her husband came into view, moving behind her to wrap his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder.

"Nope. Don't know it. What time is it anyway?"

"1:32. So much for sleeping in, huh?" He kissed her cheek lightly.

"Yea. I doubt it was a wrong number though. No one calls people at 1:32 in the morning."

"So… you want me to call 'em- Oh look. They're calling again." She clicked the right button this time, bringing the phone to her ear. "Hey, sorry about that. Pressed the wrong button. This is Ren Hitachiin, do I know you?"

* * *

Ah, well, that's a surprise, eh?


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me and never shall.

I noticed that my plot to epically confuse all you peoples is working wonderfully~

* * *

Ren looked in the mirror once again as the other end was silent. She really needed to get some sort of conditioner that didn't frizz up her hair… One would think that as an adult she would finally be able to find the right kind.

A voice from the past finally spoke through the phone and Ren's smile faltered. _"Your assistance is needed by the Vongola once again."_ She looked quickly at her husband, who was slowly falling asleep on her shoulder.

"Ah! Aunt Rei! So nice to hear from you! Can you hold on for a second?" she covered the mouth piece with her hand and shifted her shoulder a bit, waking him up. "Hikaru, its Aunt Rei. I might be awhile, so, how about you go back to bed and I'll go downstairs?" he gave a thumbs up and the both of them moved in separate directions, Hikaru back to bed, and Ren to the door. She smiled and closed the door quietly behind her, heading to the stairs. "Reborn…? Is that really you?" she murmured as she descended.

"_The Vongola needs all of its Family right now, Ren. There's been trouble over in Italy and they've now come to Japan. Already there have been casualties. You're needed. As an official member of the Vongola, it's yo-"_

"Don't start lecturing me. It's my duty to help my Family in its time of crisis, I know. Besides. It'll be nice to see Tsuna again." She smiled lightly, but when Reborn didn't respond, she became worried. "Reborn? He's alright, isn't he?"

"…_Yes. There's going to be a lot to talk about. Can you get away for at-least a month?"_

"A month?! Are you crazy?!" she stared at the phone in her hand incredulously. She could practically see Reborn's smirk as he answered.

"_Just say 'Aunt Rei' wants to take a long tour of Japan. That should free you up for at-least two months."_

"Reborn. I can't lie to my husband."

* * *

Ren was seated in the chair, glaring across the table at the infant that sat there. He had that stupid little smirk on his face and her glare deepened every minute. "I cannot believe you." she finally said at last. He gave a little shrug.

"You're needed."

"Reborn. I've grown a lot these past 10 years, but my patience hasn't grown that much." She told him. That smirk was still there.

"Yes. I know." Ren felt that she should knock him upside the head, but decided against that. It wouldn't be the mature solution after-all. "Don't worry. They should be along soon."

"They?" Reborn didn't answer, hiding his eyes with his hat. "Of-course. More secrets. First when I was a kid, and now when I'm an adult." She rested her chin in her hand. "10 years… Has it really been that long? It seemed like just yesterday I was running through the halls trying to escape Hibari's wrath…" she smiled slightly. "Hm. Ya know? I kinda miss it…"

"You won't miss it much longer." Her smile faded.

"Yes. That's true…" she blew out a sigh and didn't have the energy to look up when the doors slid open.

"Reborn? Why did you called us he- who's she?" her eyes narrowed slightly. The voice was familiar. She looked over her shoulder at the handful of teens gathered there.

"…Good Lord in Heaven, they all got married when they were kids." She hung her head, not even bothered by the fact that Reborn was laughing at her. "Alright, well, as great as this is, Reborn, 'Aunt Rei' is tired of her niece and is dropping her off back home where she belongs." She stood up and the kids blinked at her. She eyed them critically. "They all look like doubles of their parents… Well, at-least I kinda get to see them then. Ah, yes, almost forgot. Reborn, where's Kyoya? I have a present for him." she looked down at the Arcobaleno, who quieted immediately.

"Hibari?"

"Yea. Kyoya. Well, he's still anti-social, so, you wanna give him this?" she held out a ring and Reborn looked at it. "It's B-Class. I couldn't find A-Class and I figured D-, C-, and E-Class were too weak for him." Reborn didn't take it so she dropped it on the table. "Alright then. I'll be taking my leave now. It was nice seeing you again, Reborn." She bowed her head slightly to the infant before turning to the door. A man now stood there, gazing at her quietly. "…Fuuta de la Stella, correct?" The man gave a slight smile.

"You must be Hitachiin-san. Reborn-san has told me much about you." She gave a laugh before moving toward the door, walking calmly through it and disappearing. Fuuta looked over at Reborn. Reborn gave a nod and Fuuta sighed, picking up the phone. "Giannini, please lock all exits. Hitachiin-san is not to leave." He placed the phone back down and looked back at the Arcobaleno. "Reborn-san, must we really?"

"Tsuna. Go bring her back. We have a lot to discuss." Tsuna blinked stupidly.

"Me?"

"Go bring back your ally, No-Good Tsuna." He ordered. Tsuna nodded quickly, running into the hall. Gokudera ran after him before Reborn could stop him. Yamamoto grinned.

"So our ally's a lady, huh? Cool!" Reborn hid his eyes with his hat.

* * *

"H-hitachiin-san! Please wait!" Tsuna and Gokudera caught sight of the lady at exit D. She stopped abusing the exit to look at them. "A-ah, I don't think it would be a good idea to keep kicking it…" She rolled her eyes.

"That method works for every machine, though, this one works too." She opened her purse, pulling out a stick of dynamite and a match box. "I suggest you kids move back, hmm?"

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA EITHER!"

"Then you get me outta here with _your_ genius idea. I _knew _he would do this! I just knew it! I should've never come!" she put the dynamite away and pulled out a lollipop. She unwrapped it, sticking it in her mouth and sitting down on the floor, leaning against the wall. "I never should've come…" she rested her arms on the top of her knees, gazing at the kids calmly. "I knew he would do this, that's why he asked for two months. And I'm the idiot who agreed, thinking I could back out of it…" her eyes narrowed.

"Yup. You're an idiot."

"SHUT UP GOKUDERA-KUN! I DON'T NEED THAT MOUTH FROM- oh, sorry… Right, kids. Not Gokudera-kun. Sorry bout that." She waved a hand and Gokudera raised a brow at her. Tsuna gave a nervous laugh. "Ah, dear God. I need a vacation." She leaned her head back against the wall.

"H-hitachiin-san, Reborn says that he still needs to talk with you. C-could you come back with us please?" Tsuna looked at the female sitting on the ground warily. There was just something about her that wasn't right.

"No."

"Oi! Don't be so rude to the Tenth!" Gokudera yelled at her, waving a fist. She gazed at him calmly, lolly still in her mouth.

A slow smile graced her features after a minute and she stood up. "On second thought, I guess I could take this conversation. As long as this handsome young man escorts me." she winked at Tsuna and a blush covered his features. Gokudera grinned brightly at his boss.

"Good job, Tenth!" he whispered. Tsuna denied doing anything as the woman linked her arm with his and started down the hallway, Gokudera following behind.

* * *

"Reborn, I think you have a lot of explaining to do." She said when they entered. Reborn raised a small brow at her and Tsuna's arms linked together, but said nothing. "Alright. I'll explain." She released her hold on Tsuna to walk to the center of the room and gaze around her. "Let's see…"she gazed at all the faces there. "If memory serves me correctly… Who we have here is Tsuna Sawada, Hayato Stupidera," Gokudera's eyes narrowed, "Ryohei Sasagawa, Takeshi Yamamoto, Haru Miura, Kyoko Sasagawa, Chrome Dokuro, Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta de la Stella, Bianchi, Giannini, Reborn, Kyoya somewhere in this building, and me. Correct?"

Reborn gave a small nod.

"Alright. Carrying on." She sat herself on the table, swinging her legs lightly. "The Millefiore was formed and has hunted down and killed most of the Vongola allies and Vongola members. Alright… from what I learned, the Millefiore is two separate Families now joined together. They're still made up of two sections, Black Spell and White Spell. Right?"

Another nod and incredulous looks from everyone other than Reborn.

"Lovely. So, since ya'll are short on allies, ya called in me, who hasn't been in action for almost 10 years. Alright. Great. So, what do you think I can possibly do, Reborn?"

"That's why we called in a specialist. He should be getting here in a few minutes or so." Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"A specialist? If it's that blonde headed klutz I-"

"Baby, what do you want?" Her narrowed eyes widened quickly, turning to look at the man standing in the doorway. He gazed at her, but said nothing, returning his attention to the Arcobaleno.

"Train her." Reborn pointed to her and she glared at him.

"I refuse." She gave a slight nod at Hibari's words.

"See, Reborn? He doesn't wanna put up with me again. He already quit on me before." Hibari's eyes narrowed at her and Reborn gave a sigh. She moved off the table, stretching. "Well, seeing as Kyoya doesn't wanna train me, and Dino ain't here, well, looks like you're out-"

"Kuroki." She froze. "You're back in Namimori." She closed her eyes tightly, mentally preparing herself for what was ahead.

"Yes. I'm back. Your point, Kyoya?" She opened her eyes, and gazed at him calmly. Tsuna blinked between the two. She turned her back on Kyoya to smile mischievously at the teens. She gave a slight cough to clear her throat. "Be strong, Tsuna-fish, I have faith in you even though no one else does." Her voice had gone up a bit higher. Tsuna finally realized what wasn't right about her.

"R-ren-chan?!" She gave a salute.

"Here and accounted for."

"YOU'RE THE ALLY?!"

"Sure." She grinned, but the grin faded as she felt the murderous aura behind her. "Wow. Oh, hey, wait, I brought a peace offering." She grabbed the ring from the table quickly and turned around to face Hibari. "See? Cloud." She tossed it to him and he caught it, glaring down at it.

"I'll use this on you in training." He said. His gaze shifted from the ring to his new student. "Now." He turned and walked from the room, expecting Ren to follow. She rolled her eyes, frowning at the infant.

"If he kills me, you better send some nice flowers to my funeral and tell my husband I loved him." Then she too exited the room.

* * *

"Hey, Ren?" No answer. Hikaru frowned, walking toward the kitchen. Maybe she was getting home late from work?

A note on the table alerted him that something was up. He raised a brow at the paper before picking it up and reading it.

_Hikaru, sorry I couldn't tell you before you left, but, Aunt Rei's in from America and wanted to take a long tour of Japan. She just came to the house and kinda dragged me out. Accidently dropped my phone in the sink, so, it's not working. Sorry for the late notice, but, I won't be back for at-least 2 months, maybe more. It's been almost 15 years since Aunt Rei's been back, so, yea. Love you lots~!_

_Ren._

Hikaru gave a blank look at the letter in his hand, picking up the phone with the other and dialing a well-known number. "Hey, Kaoru. Yea, it's me. Can I bunk with you? How long? Like 2 months. Yep. Why? Ren left me. No, it's not that bad." Hikaru set the paper back down. "Come on, you know I can't cook. Well, yea, I know _that_, but you're a better cook than me. Tamaki? No way dude. He's got that whole mushy-lovey thing still going on with Haruhi. Kyouya? I don't think he likes me _that_ much. Mori and Honey are doing whatever they do. Come on, Kaoru. I'm your twin! Yea. Yea. Yea. Nope. Nah-uh. Cool man. I'll make the tacos, kay? Deal." He hung up and stood in the kitchen quietly for a minute or so before slumping down in the chair, his head resting on the table.

Well. I got a new chapter, hmm? I really should be studying for midterms, but, I decided to do this instead.

* * *

Did you know that for the past 30 years my high school has never had a midterm? But when the Class of 20XX enters the high school, they suddenly decide to have midterms.

And here's another fun fact: they decided that, starting with the Class of 20XX, tech ed. and physics will be mandatory. So, in conclusion, now you have to have tech ed. and physics, classes which most people _don't_ want instead of a class you do want.

High school rocks, right?

Yeah, that's what I thought.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me and never shall.

* * *

The buzzer rang and Kaoru looked up from the book he was reading. "Coming!" he called before they could ring it once again. He stood, striding to the door, opening it to see his twin standing there, a vacant far-off look on his face. "Hikaru!" Hikaru turned his face away from the window before him to smile, hugging his sibling. "It seems like it's been forever, come in already," Kaoru pulled his brother into his apartment, taking his simple duffel bag and tossing it into one of the bedrooms. "Did you already have dinner?"

"No."

"Good, cause I'm making spaghetti. Rina taught me how, so, I'm gonna put her lessons to the test." Kaoru grinned and Hikaru nodded.

"Alright." He sat down on the couch. When he said nothing more and a few minutes passed, Kaoru's smile turned to a frown.

"Hikaru? Hey, you okay?" Hikaru didn't say anything and that vacant expression was back. "Hey, Hikaru, what brought this on anyway? It doesn't seem like Ren to just suddenly up and leave. You guys are happily married, emphasis on the 'happily' part. Did she seem upset or anything?" As his brother's silence continued, something suddenly occurred to him. "Hikaru… where's Honoka?" Fear past through his mind.

"Honoka…" Hikaru looked up quickly, looking around. "She… She wasn't with me?!" Kaoru looked at his brother, a rather unreadle expression on his face, something of anger mixed with horror.

"You left a _two-year-old_ in the house alone?!" Hikaru looked at his twin, copying his expression of horror.

* * *

The teens waited quietly in the hallway, listening to what was going on in the training room before them. Tsuna was concerned for Ren, seeing as she hadn't been in action for quite some time. Gokudera was hoping that she'd have some manners knocked into her. The girls had begun dinner quite some time ago in preparation of Ren's welcome party. They were hoping she'd be alright so they could all talk later. Lambo had become bored waiting around so he returned to the kitchen with I-Pin to help the girls. Yamamoto was happy his friend was here, for the two got along well. Reborn, Ryohei, Giannini, Bianchi, and Fuuta were all going over whatever they go over in the operations room where Giannini always monitored the computers with Fuuta's help. Lal Mirch, unknown to Ren, was with them as well, going over the plans and how this untrained ally could be a part of them. They all had no idea what Hibari had in mind for their friend, but they were concerned.

15 minutes later and they found that their concern was necessary. Hibari had exited and had looked… almost _happy_. He glanced at them standing there, but said nothing, continuing on his way down the hall. Tsuna looked into the room hesitantly. There, Ren stood in the middle of the room. Cuts, scratches, and already forming bruises marked the skin that was visible. Her head was bowed, her hair creating a veil, hiding her face from sight. "R-ren-chan?" There was no reaction. Tsuna stepped inside, his single footstep echoing throughout the room.

A slight of her fingers before she slowly looked up and over at them crowding in the doorway. Her face was covering in cuts, fresh blood trailing down and—Tsuna didn't know how he missed this before—dripping onto the floor in little dots. The right side of her shirt, the side that was hidden from their view still, was ripped in some places and her right sleeve was currently lying on the floor in one of the corners of the training room.

"Tsuna-fish… Hibari-san… gave me a refresher course in close… un-armed combat… me being un-armed…" she gave a slight smile before her eyes closed and she fell forward, her knees finally giving way and depositing her onto the ground in a heap.

* * *

Reborn frowned at the condition of his student. She was currently in one of the hospital rooms, lying unmoving on the bed, IVs attached to her arms and bandages across her body. What had puzzled him the most was the fact that she had scars across her back. They weren't from Hibari, he knew that much, and back in the past she didn't have them. Bianchi had told him, from her limited knowledge she had obtained about these sort of things, that they were relatively new. Meaning that she had gotten them within the last 5 years.

She was known, yes, because of her relation to Tomiko, and her marriage to a Hitachiin. In Italy, she wasn't known a hitman, she was just trained. In Japan, she wasn't a hitman, so, why the scars? The door opened and he glanced over at Tsuna. The boy had a weird expression on his face, which caught Reborn's attention. "Tsuna."

"Reborn… How is she?" he came in, sitting in the chair beside his tutor. They both looked at her laying there, the oxygen mask covering half of her face. "I didn't know… How could Hibari do this to her?" he whispered. Reborn looked away.

"Ren left Namimori and hasn't been back since today. Apparently the last time you ever saw her was at that Christmas party. Hibari dislikes those who leave Namimori, so, this was her punishment." Tsuna said nothing, his face blank. Reborn hopped down from the chair, moving toward the door. "Hibari has his one way of dealing with things. Think about this Tsuna: if it was anyone else, they'd be dead." And then he left Tsuna alone in the room.

* * *

Haru and Kyoko were talking happily, glad that their friend was safe and well. They had yet to be informed of her current condition. Chrome sat peeling the potatoes with I-Pin, quietly listening in. She had never met this Ren, but, from what she understand, Ren was a hitman trained years ago. She hasn't been in action, so, she was getting training. 10 years ago, Ren had made sure she was alright after Mukuro had came to this side to patronize a younger Hibari. She didn't know if she would like Ren, but Kyoko and Haru had already assured her that Ren was really nice. She was still somewhat hesitant to meet with her, but she could do it. If Mukuro was alright with her, Chrome would be alright with her. "Ah, Chrome-chan! Did you finish?" Chrome looked up at the sound of Kyoko's voice. She looked down at the bowl of peeled potatoes, then back up.

"Yes…" Kyoko smiled brightly.

"Thank you Chrome-chan! Can you help us with the soup now?" Haru said, looking at the girl expectantly. Chrome gave a nod, standing up to join them at the counter. I-Pin moved to, wanting to help as well. Lambo was too busy rolling around on the floor, complaining that he was bored. "Alright, let's see here…" Haru flipped through the cookbook, looking for the recipe they wanted. "Ah! Here it is! Carrots, potatoes, milk, water, measuring cups, some spices, and then we mix it all together in the pot! She read off the things needed while Kyoko set them up on the counter. Haru looked over and smiled. "This is gonna be great! Ren-chan's gonna love this!"

* * *

The phone rang and the lady blinked her eyes open. She had been laying down taking a nap, but, she supposed it was as good a time as any to get up. Reaching for the phone, she clicked the 'Talk' button. "Hello, this is Haruhi." She covered her mouth as she let go of a yawn. "Yea? Kaoru? It's been awhile. How's Rina?" She stood up, moving toward the kitchen. "Really? That bad huh? Well, Tamaki's not here now. He took the kids to the park. He insists they do that in the afternoon, you know. Play with the other kids and all." She poked the coffee pot before getting a glass from the cupboard and just filling it with water. She took a sip, but then spit it right back out. "Ren left? Why?" She set the glass down, moving toward the window and looking outside. "Well, that doesn't sound like her. Typically she's very open and speaks her mind. I think she learned that from Hikaru." She tapped her fingers against the sill. "Hm. Well, Tamaki said Kyouya'd be coming to dinner, so, I'll talk to them. Maybe Ren called them and hinted at something." She shifted the phone to her other ear. "Yea, I'll be sure to do that. I'll call you later, bye." Disconnecting, she looked at the clock. 4:48. She shook her head, moving back to the kitchen to start dinner.

* * *

Reborn once again sat in the hospital room where Ren lay quietly. Still no movements from her, but she was looking better. Bianchi said she should wake up anytime now. The girls had said dinner would be served soon, so he supposed he should get to the dining room before it started. He hopped down from the stool and took one last glance at her before exiting.

It had only been a few minutes since he left when her eyes twitched. They didn't open, just twitch, indicating she was still asleep, yet not entirely. A slight tightening of breath before a pale thin golden light surrounded her body in patches.

* * *

Kyoko and Haru watched as everyone entered the room and sat down, talking cheerfully. Ren hadn't come yet. Chrome watched for her too, only knowing her as the lady who had greeted them earlier. Lambo was yelling for food and Tsuna told him to settle, it'd be there soon enough. About 10 minutes later when everyone was there, the two girls frowned. "Tsuna-kun, where's Ren-chan?" Kyoko asked him, still watching the doors for her friend. The room suddenly got quiet and Kyoko and Haru looked at each other. "Is something wrong, Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna was torn. He wanted to tell her Ren was fine, she'd be along shortly, but he needed to tell her the truth. The truth would hurt them, he knew that. There were such good friends…

"A-ah, well, you see, um, R-ren-chan's-"

"Doing fine and wishes she was home. Ah, hello Lambo-kun~!" the voice interrupted Tsuna and Lambo's laughter soon followed. Tsuna's jaw dropped as he watched Ren take a seat, smiling brightly at her friends who were chattering amiably. Reborn gave her a sharp look, which told Tsuna that for once Reborn wasn't hiding information from him. "Oh, Tsuna-fish, if you keep your mouth open like that you're gonna catch flies." He promptly shut his trap.

"Ren." She winked over at Reborn.

"Yo~ You worried 'bout me?" Reborn's gaze narrowed. "Sorry. Just woke up." She turned back to her friends and left Reborn to ponder by himself.

The dining room became loud and cheerful once again as the guest of honor was there and there was no need to worry about her anymore.

* * *

It was after dinner when Ren was sitting quietly at the table. Everyone else had went off to do their own thing, but Ren had remained. She was worried about Hikaru, but she was afraid to call him. She had just suddenly left him with no explanation, and she lied to him as well. He couldn't know about her past, so, she was hesitant to even talk to him, for she knew he would ask questions.

It was after a few minutes of inner turmoil that she finally decided to talk with him. She picked up the phone conviently nearby and dialed his number, surprised when it went immediately to voice mail. Disconnecting, she started dialing Kaoru's number. She didn't hear the doors open behind her.

"_Hello…"_ she was shocked by the voice. It wasn't Kaoru's, she knew that.

"H-hikaru? It's me… Ren…" she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for him to start yelling. "I'm sorry I couldn't call you sooner! If I could, I would have, but I took a nap! Please don't be mad!" she said quickly.

"_Ren? Where are you? Are you okay? You just left!"_

"I'm sorry, please forgive me! A-aunt Rei just suddenly appeared and said that the tour started now! I didn't mean to leave you like that!" She bit her bottom lip, trying really hard not to cry. "I just haven't seen her in such a long time! I couldn't say no!"

There was no answer on the other end and she was afraid he was really mad. "H-hikaru?"

"_Are you alright? You're safe?"_ She let out a shaky breath, glad he was still talking to her.

"Y-yea, I'm fine. We're at one of Aunt Rei's friend's place. Are you alright?" A short laugh from her husband.

"_No, I'm a total wreck. I don't know how I put up without being with you for so long already."_ Ren covered her mouth with her hand. "_It's like something just went out, you know? I can't remember the last time I didn't see you for so long. It must've been when we were still in school."_

"I'm sorry, Hikaru… I am so sorry…" a single tear escaped and she wiped it away furiously. "Honoka… She's with you at Kaoru's, right?" A slight thumping noise and she started. "Hikaru? Is something wrong? What was that?"

"_Yea, Honoka's with me… to be honest, I actually forgot her at the babysitter's today. Kaoru and I went back to get her. Ah, here she comes now. Honoka, you wanna talk to Mama?" _Ren smiled.

"_Mama!"_

"Hi sweetie. How's uncle Kaoru's? Is Daddy playing hide-and-seek with you?"

"_Yea! Mama home?_" Ren's heart constricted.

"A-ah, not yet sweetie. Mommy's not home yet. Mommy'll be back before you know it. Can you help daddy for Mommy?"

"_Yea!"_ Ren gave a smile at her daughter's limited vocabulary.

"Thank you honey. Hikaru?"

"_I'm here."_ Ren bit her lip again.

"Hikaru… I don't know when I'll talk to you again, but I want you to know I'm not running out on you, okay? A-aunt Rei's just… focused right now. I'll talk to you when I can, alright?" She waited, her fingers crossed.

"_I know."_ She let out a breath. "_I'll be waiting for you. Be safe."_ A shaky breath was inhaled.

"God, I love you, you know that? You have no idea…"

"_I think I do. I love you too."_

"Bye." She clicked off the phone before she could start crying and cause him even more alarm. She leaned her elbows on the table, holding her head in her hands. "I miss you so much already, Hikaru…" she whispered to herself. "I wish I hadn't left…"

"And yet you did." She froze, her eyes wide. "Honoka… Harmony Flower. Your daughter, I'm guessing." She slowly lowered her arms and raised her head up, looking over her shoulder at the man who was her worst nightmare come to life. He raised a brow. "You're afraid of me. I see you heal quickly enough though. We can continue your training tomorrow then."

"Kyoya…"

* * *

Hello all you beautiful people that probably hate me right now~

Yes, I'm late in posting this. Yes, I just started this yesterday. Yes, it's not much, but, it's all I could come up with.

Please forgive me for neglecting my duties as an author. Hopefully this won't happen often, but you never can know, sadly…


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me and never will.

* * *

The officer sat stiffly in chair. He had been called in to the area about 20 minutes ago and had just gotten here. One of the rich people lost a kid. Something about a kidnapping. He wasn't all that surprised. Some kids don't like to be crowded and Lord knew some parents smothered their kids. Kid probably ran away to be away from their mother or old man for a bit, but he'd be back. It was only a matter of time. Apparently he'd been missing for almost two days. Thus, the local police had been called. The mother was still in shock and hadn't made herself present yet, the butler, Romar was it? had shown him in and asked him to wait. He saw a blonde pass earlier, but decided it wasn't important.

"Sir, the madam will see you now." Romar stood in the doorway and Officer Mochizuki rose quickly. The butler turned slightly and motioned someone forward. The woman look about late 20's to early 30's and Officer Mochizuki was once again very impressed by cosmetics. "Madam, this is Officer Mochizuki. He's going to ask you a few questions." He led the lady to the chair across from where Mochizuki had just been sitting. She sat, but the officer noticed she seemed hollow, empty. Romar gave a slight bow at the waist to her before facing Mochizuki. "I'll leave you two in peace now. If you need anything, please call. I'll be around or one of the servants will attend to you." he tilted his head a bit to him before exiting the room. Mochizuki sat back down and brought out a pad of paper.

"Ma'am, I'm Officer Isaki Mochizuki. I'm going to ask you some questions. Can you please state your full name?" There was hardly a pause before she answered. It was a mechanical answer and Mochizuki started to seriously feel sorry for the lady. She was really in a state of shock.

"Tatiana Adelinia Cavallone."

"…It says here your name is Tomiko Kuroki?" She barely looked up, but he saw her eyes. They were dark, as if she had lost everything and had nothing left.

"…yes… I'm sorry. Yes, I'm Tomiko." He didn't press the matter further. He jotted down the name and address before he spoke again.

"I was told you reported a kidnapping of your son?" She slowly brought her hands up to hide her face, her shoulders shuddering. He regretted that move. He should've asked a different question.

"M-my Ren… my poor, sweet little Ren… A gunshot… I told her, I told her to come out… she wouldn't listen… she didn't listen…! My poor little Ren…!" her words had become more hysterical, louder, until she finally burst into sobs. Isaki passed her a box of tissues. She took them, still wailing, and he wrote down some more information about her daughter, not son, daughter.

"I'm sorry ma'am."

* * *

The class was rather loud. Their teacher for two of their classes was out sick, so they would be receiving a substitute for the day. Subs were always easy to handle.

They were surprised when a lady who didn't look much older than them walked in.

She set her bag down quietly on the front desk while the class continued to talk, glancing at her from the corner of their eyes. She shuffled through a few papers, pulling some out and spreading them across the desk, looking down at them, trailing her finger down the page.

It was 7 minutes later when the class fell silent of their own accord. She looked up from over her glasses and gave a slight smile. "Glad you finally decided to settle down. We're picking up right from yesterday, capital and communist governments. We'll start with an analogy." She said, getting straight down to business. "A farmer has two cows. He sells-" a hand raised and she paused. "Yes?"

"Why're we talking about cows? How does this concern governments?"

"It's an analogy." She gazed around the room before carrying on. "Anyway, he sells one cow and buys a bull to make lots of little cows. Now, he can-" another hand raised and she paused once again. "Yes?"

"Don't we learn stuff like this is health?" She gave the boy a look.

"How would I know? I teach history, not health." She shook her head and jotted something down on a sheet of paper. "Alright. Carrying on once again. This farmer can do what he wants with his cows, sell them, breed them, butcher them, or keep them for their milk. That's similar to a capitalist government. Now, in a communist government, the farmer takes care of the cows, but he doesn't get the rewards, in this case, the milk. Someone else does. A communist government would take everything. Get it?" she gazed at the blank faces staring at her. A pause. "How bout I take role now? By the way, I'm Miss Takahasi." She scanned the papers in-front of her and paused over one. "Alright, here we are." She glanced around the classroom and raised a brow. "Hm. I see a 'Ren Kuroki' isn't here. Anyone know if he's sick or something?"

"It's a girl."

"Oh yea? A girl huh? Alright then. Ren Kuro…" She fell silent as her hand started to shake, dropping the pencil in the process. The class stared at her as if she had sprouted another head. She turned to the window and looked out of it. One kid in the back noticed that she wasn't actually looking out of it.

She snapped back and picked up some chalk, writing down 5 questions on the board. "Answer these, essay form." Groans were heard, but she ignored them. She reached into her bag, pulling out her cell-phone and moving toward the door. She pressed a few buttons and brought it to her ear. "Daddy? No, it's Chouko. Daddy, is- I see. I was right then. A gunshot through the window." The class stared at her with wide eyes. "No, no, nothing like that. They're wrong. What? She shouldn't be blaming you. She was- Yea. I'm the sub here at school. Oh yea? I'll talk to her. Hmm? He was? Him and her? I thought they hated each other? Oh… Yea? Him too? I though he left long time ago? That right? Yea, I'll talk to her. Maybe she heard something about it… No… No… Yes, I saw it. She was running, getting tired. She finally collapsed in the middle of a street. A boy came and- No, nothing like that, Daddy. He cleaned her up and- No Daddy. He had the girl do that. What? Yes, Daddy. A friend of hers'. She woke up, ate a bit and then the girl left. What? No, he left after he brought her in. A hospital of some sort… She's just sitting there… at the window Daddy… like she always does… a humming… words? Yea, now that you mention it, yea. 'Why does the caged bird sing?' She's saying that quietly. Oh yea? She did? Oh, the girl came back… no, she's just sitting there and," she started laughing and the class began thinking of mental hospitals. "She's knitting, daddy! Knitting!" she paused to compose herself. "Yea, I'll talk to her. If I find her. Yea, love you too. Tell mum I say hi, kay? Kay." She clicked the phone shut and turned to look back at the class. "Oh? Are those essays done already?"

They kids went straight to work.

* * *

Hikaru watched from the doorway as their sub talked with a second year student, a girl with brown hair and eyes. Simple. "Hey, Kaoru. Come here." Kaoru leaned against his brother, looking out into the hall. "You know her?"

"Who? The sub? No, not personally, but she did say her name-"

"No, the girl. Not the sub." Kaoru made a face Hikaru couldn't describe, but looked at the girl. He squinted a bit, but then shrugged.

"Nah, should I?"

"No. Just wondering." Kaoru looked at his brother thoughtfully.

"Hey, Hikaru. You like her."

"What? I don't even know the chick!"Kaoru shook his head quickly.

"No, not her. Ren." Hikaru looked appalled, but Kaoru saw the slight blush on his features.

"Ren? Now way. She's just a kid." Kaoru gave a mischievous grin and raised a brow.

"Yea? Well, I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't seen you kiss her, Hikaru." He pulled away, raising his hands up in a 'oh well' manner. "But, if you don't like her, you don't like her. Though… I still have to wonder…" He glanced at Hikaru from the corner of his eye. The teen was looking away, averting his gaze from his brothers'. "Huh. Hikaru, are you keeping something from me? Hmm?" Hikaru shifted his gaze to his brother briefly and Kaoru laughed. "HA. I knew it! You do like her!"

"I-We-She- fine. Maybe a little." Kaoru continued laughing while Hikaru huffed and crossed his arms fiercely.

* * *

"So you haven't heard anything about it?"

"I didn't even know she was here til you told me." The simple girl with brown hair and eyes was Akemi Yoshida, Ren's sibling closest in age to her. Akemi shrugged. "No, I didn't hear anything. I tend to keep away from all these rich snobs. Simply because I have a scholarship means nothing. I'm still as smart as them, maybe even more so." She crossed her arms over her chest and Chouko Takahasi smiled.

"I know you are. You're like Yuri. She passed through here with flying colors, so you should be fine." Chouko gave a sigh. "Still… Ren's been 'kidnapped' as her dearly beloved grammy puts it and now she's blaming Dad. They searched the house and tapped his phones cause she said it was him." Akemi blew out a breath, rolling her eyes.

"Idiots. Dad has trouble enough with the restaurant. He comes home and practically collapses onto the couch. There's no way he did it. If she was 'kidnapped' it would be for a ransom. But it's a whole other story entirely if she's the one who shot up the window and flew the coop. Grammy's probably getting on her nerves." Akemi smiled fondly at the thought of her younger sister breaking free. "Well, she's a strong one, that lass. I wouldn't be surprised."

"Then don't be. She was the one." Chouko stated. Overhead, the bell dinged, indicated it was time for class. "I'll talk to you later, kay?"

"Yea, let's have at it." They went their separate ways and Chouko closed the door to the classroom behind her.

* * *

Ren sat on the couch, her leg propped up on the small table in-front of her. During her daring escape, she had broken her leg and her left wrist had several deep scratches, which had been patched up. When Hibari had found her sprawled on the sidewalk, she had been somewhat shocked to find that she had walked all the way home with her leg broke. She hadn't felt any pain.

Until Hibari nudged her with his foot.

She looked out the window, her face void of any emotion. She knew the trouble she was causing her father. She knew he would be accused. She knew it and she was still putting him through it.

A knock on the door and she looked up from her knitting. Ren looked around quickly, wondering if she could make it to the closet in time to hide. "_Ren-san?" _She breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Hana-chan, come in." The door opened and Hana Kurokawa poked her head in.

"You doing okay?" Ren smiled and nodded.

"Yes, thank you. Is it lunchtime already?" Hana gave a laugh.

"No. It's just break. Hibari-san wants me to check up on you, so." Hana gave a slight shudder and Ren shook her head. "But it's alright. I would have anyway."

"Thank you Hana. You've been a big help, I'm serious." Hana waved her off.

"I can't just let a friend in need be a friend in need. I'll see you later, okay? Bye-bye," Hana waved before closing the door and retreating back to her classroom before break was over. Ren smiled, then returned to her knitting. She had made Hibari go out and get different colored yarns from a list she had made for him. He grumbled about it and threatened her, but she waved him off and he had done it(Well, Kusakabe had gotten it, but only under the direct orders of Hibari, so it counted). She hoped she would be able to finish the scarves before she had to leave. She had always been a fast knitter, but she didn't know how much time she had left.

* * *

Tomiko sat stiffly in the chair. She didn't want to be here anymore than they wanted her here. Shizuka set the tray down on the coffee table and sat across the table from her mother-in-law. She smiled politely. "So, Tomiko, how've you been? We haven't seen you for sometime now… much less have an actual conversation." Tomiko gave her a look and Shizuka blew out a sigh, leaning back. "I really don't know how to explain this to you, but, we haven't actually seen Ren since before Christmas. Yes, we miss her. Yes, we want her back, but we'll do it legally. We wouldn't kidnap her." the front door opened and there were footsteps.

"Mama? I'm back~!" Tomiko shot up.

"Ren?!" A blonde head poked into the room with brown eyes to match. The girl titled her head slightly.

"You're… Tomiko, right? Kuroki? Ren's grandmamma? I'm Ayame Sato, nice to meet you." Ayame stepped into the doorway and bowed politely. "Ren's told me a lot about you, Mama and Daddy too." Tomiko faltered for a few moments before finding her voice.

"A-ayame, how old are you?"

"24. I know I look small and way too young, but I'm 24~!" Ayame gave a big smile and Tomiko looked at Shizuka, who didn't make eye-contact.

"And you're 36, am I right?" Tomiko asked icily. Ayame blinked.

"Huh? Woah, hey, no way! She isn't my real mom! My real mom was real sick, so Shizuka and Takumi took me and Ayamu in!" Ayame waved her arms around, knowing what Tomiko was thinking. Tomiko sat down heavily in the chair once again.

"I'm getting a headache…"

"Yea? I think we have some Aspirin in the kitchen, hold on, I'll go get it~!" Ayame skipped from the room and a tan-haired young man knocked on the wall by the door where she used to be.

"Knock knock, mom. I brought cake." The boy said in a slight monotone. This man actually looked 24, so, Tomiko gave a random guess that this was Ayamu. Ayame brought out an Aspirin and an glass of water. Tomiko took the two and downed the pill.

"Thank you, dear."

"No prob! Oh, yea, Mama, I helped pick out the cake! See? I made sure it was pink too! Cause I know you like pink!" Ayame pointed to the white box in Ayamu's hands. "Ayamu, open it, open it!" The brother obeyed, opening it to show the pastel pink cake. Shizuka smiled.

"Thanks. I need sugar." Ayamu nodded, walking toward the kitchen. He stopped near Tomiko, bowing at the waist.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Kuroki-san. I've heard much about you. I thank you for looking after my sister this entire time. I'll be glad to help with anything that can help to find Ren." He straightened, disappearing into the kitchen. Tomiko blinked at him while Ayame bounced over and sat next to her.

"Ayamu took some etiquette classes awhile back. Same with ballroom dancing." She tapped her chin. "Ah, come to think of it, we all did… Ren was too little, so she and Akemi always watched on the sidelines with Shun, until of-course it was my turn up and I had to use Shun as my partner cause he was the only one who was little enough for me!" Ayame laughed and Tomiko found many similarities between her and Ren.

* * *

Well. So I finally have a new chappie up~

I know it's not much, but I just wanted to touch base with Tomiko and how the 'kidnapping' was coming down. Ren's been gone so far for almost as long as Tsuna and co. have been in the Future. You know how when they came back for the Arcobaleno trials in the anime? Well they were only gone for 3 days, so, Ren's been gone for almost 2.

Lovely. So, we introduced some more of Ren's family. I'll go over who we've met so far:

Shun Kondo- Ren's 'older brother' and friend. He has a somewhat quick temper and chooses to dye his hair black and wear blue contacts so he doesn't look related to his sister, Yuri.

Yuri (Kondo) Oshiro- Ren's 'older sister'. Yuri looks like Ren with long brown hair and light brown eyes. Yuri's rather carefree and did graduate from Ouran Academy.

Nori Narita- Ren's 'older brother' by bond. Dark hair and dark eyes, he's relatively quiet.

Chouko Takahasi- Ren's 'older sister' by bond, the two get along fairly well. Dark brown hair cut short and green eyes, she can see what's ahead, oddly enough, as displayed by her knowing what happened to Ren without any information. She's a substitute teacher with a variety of schools, including Ouran.

Akemi Yoshida- Ren's 'older sister' closest in age. She's a rather simple looking girl with brown hair and brown eyes, so she blends easily into crowds. She's attending Ouran Academy.

Ayame Sato- A 24-year-old who looks like she's 15. She chooses to dye her hair blonde, but in reality it's light tan. She has brown eyes and is a cheerful girl.

Ayamu Sato- Ayame's twin brother with tan hair and brown eyes. He's a quiet fellow like Nori and typically is rather emotionless.

So~ we've met some of the family and Tomiko now knows something she never knew before~

Hope you enjoyed this, regardless of how boring and/or short it was~ Come again~


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me, nor do I claim they do.

* * *

Ren laid on the floor of her room, staring up at the ceiling. Another day of training with Hibari, but he didn't attempt to kill her this time, so it was better. She thought about calling Hikaru, but like before, she was afraid he would ask about where she was in more detail and ask other questions. She couldn't deal with that right now. The door opened and Ren lifted her head a bit to look at Reborn. The infant wanted to talk to her since last night, but she had avoided him. "Ren."

"Reborn-kun." She sat up and Reborn seated himself on her bed at eye-level with her. She gave a smile. "I'm alive today. That's cause for congratulations, right?" Reborn's face stayed the same and she gave a sigh. "Yea, I know…"

"You healed quickly." She nodded after a moment.

"Sun flames." That explained almost everything.

"The scars on your back." She winced as if she had been slapped. He raised a small brow. "Difficult topic to discuss for you?" She didn't look at him. "Ren. You've been in action since you gave up 10 years ago, haven't you?" She laid back down, turning her face away. "Ren. Talk about it." She was silent for a long time, but Reborn was willing to wait for her to explain.

"I-it was about 4 years ago… Hikaru and I had been dating for sometime by then, so, everyone figured we were getting married… We didn't think anything would happen because of it, but we were so wrong, so terribly wrong…" she finally said in a quiet voice. Reborn waited for her to continue.

* * *

A muffled scream pierced the air and there was laughter. The sound of liquid being spilled was heard, yet the camera kept rolling. Chain thrown over a beam held her on her knees, arms raised. The back of her shirt was in tatters, but it's not like anyone could help her… it's not like anyone knew where she was. He raised the knife once again, cutting into her back, another muffled scream coming from behind her bindings.

The camera continued on, recording it all. Recorded the blood that was spilled, the look on her face as her back was cut up. The laughter came once again and the chain was loosened, causing her to fall to the ground, curling up to ignore the pain. The dark figure turned off the recording device, popping out the small tape and smiling at it, shoving it into an envelope and leaving her to herself.

* * *

Ren's face was void of any emotion as Reborn listened closely. "Everyone just thinks that a vigilante came in and saved me from that man. I told them I hadn't seen anything, that I had been in too much pain to notice anything. I can't tell them that it was me who almost killed him. One more strike was all I needed and he would be dead…" She gave a sad sigh. "I can never let Hikaru know about this, the mafia, the Vongola. I can't let him know… I can't even tell my husband the truth about me, Reborn…"

"It's necessary. You might not ever be able to tell him, Ren." Reborn stated quietly. Ren said nothing and Reborn left her to herself.

* * *

Hibari stood waiting in the training room for his 'student' calmly. She was late and he wouldn't hold back on her in training today. The door opened and Reborn appeared. Hibari raised a brow. "Baby."

"Hibari. Ren won't be coming. She's in the shooting gallery today, practicing her use of hand guns again." The Arcobaleno told him. Hibari gave a nod and left the toddler behind. Reborn watched as the doors closed.

* * *

Ren added another round into her .45 before taking aim at the target. She fired, hitting all points perfectly, moving onto the moving targets. The doors opened behind her, but she ignored them. Anyone stupid enough to come in would be smart enough to wait.

She hoped.

A glint in the silver of the hand gun and she inwardly winced. It was _him._ She put the .45 down, turning around to face her nightmare, leaning against the rail calmly. "Kyoya." He raised a brow. She lifted herself up to sit on the rail, swinging her legs back and forth. "You have a question, right? For me?" There was no indication from him that her words were right. "You're just like him… Everything's in your ey-" She was cut abruptly short as she was slammed into the wall beside her.

"_Don't compare me to that weakling_." Ren gripped his hand with the both of hers, trying to loosen his hold even a little bit so she could breathe. She made a muffled sort of gasp and he rolled his eyes, letting go. She fell to her knees, a hand at her throat, gasping for the air that her body desperately needed. Hibari watched her for a few moments quietly and when she looked back up at him, he was surprised(though he didn't show it) at the look in her eyes.

"Y…you want to know why I chose him." Hibari wouldn't deny it, but he wouldn't tell her that. She gave a slight cough, rising to her feet, swaying slightly at the light-headed feeling she felt. "Because he was there. You left me to deal with my grandmother alone, you know that?" she growled at him. "3 years I know you and I think I have you pretty figured out, all, 'protect Namimori' and 'punish those who disturb the peace' and all that jazz. She took me away and you. did. nothing. She says I can't return until I'm an adult and you. did. nothing." Hibari didn't give any indication that he cared for what she was saying. She gave a slight laugh, shaking her head. "Why do I even try?" she looked up at the ceiling. "You saved my life, you know that? A drunk driver could've killed me. You pulled me out of the way. And no one even knew what had happened…" she shook her head once again. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but, did you know I had a crush on you? Up until I graduated Ouran. Then I realized you were too busy for me, a 'deserted' if you will." She leaned against the wall and flashed him a grin. His gaze narrowed at her. "Buuut it's not like you cared, ya know? Don't know why I did this either, but I invited you all to the wedding, _hoping_ I could see you guys again. Only Calla came. Said she had heard what happened to me and that she was sorry my gramma put me through that. She left soon after that." A sigh from her and she pushed off from the wall, passing Hibari and walking through the door. "I really liked you, but you never knew that and it doesn't matter now, does it? I don't even know why I just told you all that…" the door closed behind her and Hibari was left by himself.

* * *

"Ren-chan, time for dinner!" Kyoko called through the door. There was no answer so she knocked again. "Ren-chan?"

"_I'm not hungry, Kyoko-chan…"_ Kyoko gave a light frown.

"B-but Ren-chan-"

"_I'll be fine."_ Kyoko sighed and went back down the hall toward the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door before giving another sigh. Ren was on her floor again, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes twitched when a…_fairy_ entered her vision.

"Ciao ciao~ I'm the magical fairy, Reborn!" she swatted the 'fairy' away from her face, glaring at the opening in the ceiling that promptly closed. "I saw you were in desperate need of help, so here I am~" the squeaky high-pitched voice said, waving his magic wand.

"Get lost, butterfly."

"Fairy~" the 'fairy' corrected. Ren rolled her eyes.

"I already spilled everything, whaddya want now?" The 'fairy' simply shook his head. "You know, I feel like I'm cheating on my husband."

"Technically you are~ You are with another man right now~" Ren swatted him away once again, crawling onto her bed and hiding under the covers.

"Shut up. It's not by choice, Reborn. If I could leave here, I would. I'd go home and I would pretend like this whole thing didn't happen. I'd make dinner, put Honoka to bed, and then go to bed myself, like normal." A sharp pain on the back of her head and she glared at Reborn, flinging the covers off her. "What the-"

"You idiot. Things are never normal for you." His face had gotten serious and she blanked. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand." She flopped back on the bed. "Doesn't mean I like it."

"I have a mission for you, Ren. It's up-top. Can you handle it?" Ren eyed him warily. He was smiling/

"No tricks?" Reborn's smile turned into a smirk and she groaned. "Fine. I'll go."

* * *

Ren glared at the ground as they walked. "When he said a mission, I figured he meant surveillance. Not an undercover operation with _you_." Ren didn't look at her 'husband' as they walked down the crowded street filled with tourists. Her arm was linked loosely in his, fitting the image of a newly-wed couple on their…_ honeymoon_.

He simply said nothing, tilting his head down a bit lower at the sight of one of the many spies for the Millefiore. A plain dark gray t-shirt and jeans with a matching baseball cap for him and a loose fitting sundress for her. The perfect couple.

Ah, if only it was that simple.

"If you don't tell me why exactly I couldn't go with Ryohei by the-"

"Busy." She huffed, looking away.

"I could've at-least gone with Kusakabe…" she muttered under her breath. Hibari shifted his gaze to her briefly before returning it to the street ahead.

"Don't think I'm happy about this either." She turned to fully face him, her look dark.

"You just better hope that none of my family or friends sees me like this, _Hibari Kyoya_." A slow, malicious grin spread across his features as he leaned down close to her.

"_Is that a threat, __** ?**__" _

"You better believe it." She looked forward once again and strode on confidently, the skylark keeping pace with her easily.

On the other side of the sidewalk, a pair of eyes followed them, jaw dropped.

* * *

Psssssssssh

And Liliane said I couldn't torture her anymore~

HA. PROVED YOU WRONG.

I succeeded in making Ren and Hibari get 'hitched'. Of-course, once their mission is over, they'll go back to hating each other… sad, I know. Oh Well~ just doing this to them is fine for me~

I'll give you two guesses on who this mysterious bystander is who recognizes them~

Sorry this one's short, but I just wanted to get something out before I totally go over 2 weeks again~


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me and never shall.

* * *

The 'couple' walked calmly through the streets, her arm once again within her 'husband's'. No one saw anything wrong with the two. It was a typical scene one would find a day such as this. Just going for a walk and being in each other's company.

Except for the person on the sidewalk.

A light brown hair color, one would call it a shade of orange, or auburn. It was rather spiky too. "H-hey, can you come 'ere?" he called behind him to where his twin had been standing, getting some ice cream for his niece. His twin looked up, the vanilla dripping to the ground. He gave an exasperated sigh.

"Come on, little one. Let's go see what daddy wants." The little girl smiled brightly, gripping his hand. "What's up?" His older brother pointed down the street. He squinted at the couple, looked back at his brother, then looked to the sky. "Why me? Why? Look, it's just a couple on a walk. Nothing to get excited about."

"It's Ren." His brother gave him a look, but he stood firm. "I'm sure of it."

"Alright. What if it is?" The younger brother wasn't so sure, but he would go along with it for now. "What will you do?"

"I'm gonna tackle-glomp her and take her home, that's what I'm gonna do." He started down the street, but his younger sibling pulled him back with a sigh.

"Now just hold on. I wanna talk to her too, but that guy she's with… I've seen him around before… I can't remember where though…" A sticky hand on his arm and he looked down at his niece. She smiled up at him, her face smeared with white. "Uh, before we do that, let's get your daughter, cleaned up, yeah?" He picked up the little girl to show his brother. "Quick, take a picture." A sigh and then a click, the little girl letting out a happy laugh at getting her picture taken. "Lovely. Now, where's a bathroom?" He gave a critical look to his young niece before smiling at her. "Mummy's gonna love you all messy, won't she?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Ren and Hibari entered the hotel, but they were no longer Ren Hitachiin and Kyoya Hibari.

They were Ran and Kohaku Hara, the happy newly-weds.

Ran moved to the window calmly and looked out it while Kohaku went to the counter. "Reservation for Hara." The woman there looked up and blinked a couple times before processing what he said.

"A-ah, Hara? Yes, r-right here!" she smiled, handing him the key. "Will you be needing anything else, sir?"

"No. Ran, I got the key." He called over his shoulder and the woman's face fell. Ran smiled and moved over to him, linking her arm with his as they moved toward the elevators, luggage in hand.

Once the door closed, she quickly moved away to bang her head on the side of the small room. "Why *BANG* me *BANG* of all *BANG* people *BANG* AM I STUCK WITH YOU?!" Kohaku simply ignored her.

* * *

A slammed door. "_SHUN! YOU GET BACK HERE!_" The young man shoved his hands in his pockets, the cigarette between his lips. He gazed up at the sky as he heard a glass breaking.

"Sorry sis. I've grown-up."

"Uncle Shun?" He glanced behind him to see his niece, Hikari. She looked up at him sadly. She was sitting on the front lawn, the beginning of her small garden in-front of her. "Are you leaving again? Even when Mommy's mad?" Shun let out a sigh, dropping the death stick to the ground and crushing it with his shoe.

"Your dad's here. She'll be fine." He still didn't like Kousuke, but at-least the man could keep Yuri off his back for a bit. Hikari looked toward the house where they both saw Yuri sitting on the couch, a hand over her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks while Kousuke sat beside her.

"But… Mommy's always really sad when you leave like this… She's really happy when you're here. Grandma's always mean to her…" This was no new news to Shun. He lived with his mother as long as he could before he could finally ditch. Then he had his sister to deal with. She was almost as bad as his mother. "Uncle Shun?"

"Yea?"

"Could you stay? Please? And help me with the garden? Aunt Ren hasn't been here with Honoka in a long time… She promised she would help next time she came… So, could you help?" Shun moved into the grass to crouch next to, ruffling her hair.

"Sure kid. If it'll make you smile, yea?" The 10-year-old grinned brightly and Shun suddenly saw his older sister in her, back when they had been kids and had gotten along.

"Thank you, Uncle Shun!" she handed him a trowel and pointed out what she wanted and where she wanted it, going back to dig through the dirt to make the holes for the flowers to go in.

* * *

Ren flopped on the bed, giving a deep sigh. Hibari dropped the bags on the floor, gazing around him slowly.

One bed.

"I call the couch." Ren rolled off to pounce onto said furniture, curling around the pillow. Hibari gave her a look that said he was obviously concerned for her state of mind. "What? You want it?"

He ignored her yet again, moving to the window and looking out it. After studying the map, they had learned that there were Millefiore at almost all corners doing one thing or another, various stands or running shops. Being on a middle floor with a window looking out over the town, they could better plan their movements above ground without being recognized.

That was the reason for the mission. Surveillance and undercover to better the Family's knowledge. Though, Hibari was doing it for his organization, not for Vongola. That's why Ren was there. She was for Vongola.

Though she was just glad to be above ground.

* * *

Tomiko sat gazing out the window. Roland was concerned for her, but knew she was okay. She was just thinking. She had done that fairly often as of late. She let out a sigh and he rested a hand on her shoulder. She smiled. "Sorry, Roland. I'm spacing again."

"No problem." She looked up at him and he smiled.

"You're too good for me."

"It should be me saying that, Tomiko." She looked back out the window. They had been married a little over 2 years by now, but it had seemed as if it was forever.

"I just… I'm worried. About Ren." Roland gazed out the window as well. He didn't want to upset her by saying that he had been feeling the same way for almost a week now.

* * *

Back underground, Kyoko and Haru wondered where their friend had gone. Chrome still hadn't met the lady, so, she was starting to get curious. "Reborn-kun," Kyoko asked when she spotted him. The infant looked up at her. "Have you seen Ren-chan? We can't find her and we've looked everywhere."

"She's getting special training."

"Like Tsuna-kun?"

"Yes." Kyoko looked over at Haru.

"Hahi, Reborn-kun, when will she be finished?" The baby smiled and Kyoko and Haru looked at each other once again.

"It should be by the end of the day, two days from now." The two girls clapped their hands together.

"Really? That's great! We can make a big party to celebrate!" the two turned around quickly to go to the kitchen, Chrome following after them slowly, at somewhat of a loss. They chattered already about menus and decorations, thinking that big, bright, bold colors and designs would be fine. They left the Arcobaleno to himself, not catching what else he had to say. Reborn hid his eyes with his hat, his smile still there.

"If she doesn't attempt to kill Hibari first or vice versa."

* * *

Tsuna sat silently in the training room. Reborn had told him he had 2 free days at the most, what with Hibari gone. He hadn't asked about that part, but Lal had immediately stepped in as a temporary trainer for him, with help from Ryohei. They would help him when they could and when they weren't planning more strategies for their raid of the Millefiore base.

Tsuna would've been fine with just Ryohei. Lal was still too hard on him, but it did help him get better.

Gokudera was busy with his own training and figuring out some system or another, the name escaped Tsuna at the moment, and Yamamoto was training with Reborn. He wished he could go and find them, but, he had a feeling once he left the training room, Reborn would be on him instantly.

So he sat there, just simply thinking.

The raid would only be in a few short days, if everything went according to plan. He was nervous about it, yes, but to return to the future, they had to find Irie Shoichi. They had to find the white machine that Irie had. That was the key to returning to the past.

The doors slid open and Tsuna looked over, not surprised to see Lal Mirch standing there, a scowl on her face. "Get up, Sawada." He stood as she walked over. Pulling out his gloves and putting them on, he popped two Dying Will pills into his mouth, his flame immediately appearing on his forehead and his eyes changing to a deep amber. "I'm not going easy on you, got it?"

"I understand."

* * *

You guys really don't think that Ren and Hikaru are gonna stay hitched, do you? I'm not that cruel


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: KHR! and OHSHC do not belong to me and never shall.

* * *

The time allotted for their surveillance was up, the raid would be soon. Ren let out a breath as she exited the hotel. Hibari was behind her, but she refused to walk with him. She already put up with him for 2 days, that was enough, thank you. "Ren-ren!" the voice was close and she had just started to turn, when she was tackled. "I knew it was you!" she looked up to see the man smiling down at her. Spiky orange hair and casual clothes, sapphire blue eyes watched for her reaction.

"N-nani? Y-yoshi-onii-san?" His grin widened and he sat on the sidewalk next to her.

"I knew you'd remember me! Taichi said that I should wait, but I missed my cute little sister too much!"

"I never did such a thing. I simply suggested we hold off until we were sure. I didn't want you tackling a complete stranger. What would your wife think if you were arrested for sexual harassment?" the younger twin appeared. Brown spiky hair and deep brown eyes, he was a replica of his brother. He held the hand of a little girl, about 2, and a little boy, about 6, stood on his other side. Ren leaned forward, tilting her head at the children.

"Onii-san… I didn't know you were married." Taichi snorted.

"Psh. I am. Miki and Satomi are at home. These are Yoshi's kids. Say hi to Aunt Ren." Taichi noticed the same man from before standing some way back. He sure wasn't Hikaru, Ren's husband. He ignored him for the time being, urging the children forward. "Go on now."

The boy gripped his leg, refusing to come out from behind his uncle. "I'm Shinobu Suzuki, Aunt Ren…" his little voice made Ren coo.

"Awww, you're so cute! Yoshi-onii-san! Can I keep him?" Her brother stuck his tongue out at her. For being 31, he was awfully childish. "And what's your name sweetie?" Ren looked at her niece.

"I'm 3!" she held up four fingers and Ren laughed lightly. "I'm Rio!" Ren patted her head and the little girl gave a bright smile. Ren stood up, suddenly looking like an adult.

"I'm sorry, onii-sans. I have to get going. Business awaits me." She pointed back at Hibari and Taichi understood. The man was going over plans for her business. Taichi smiled.

"Of-course. We'll catch up some other time. Yoshi. Come on. Aimi's gonna think you're cheating on her." The older sibling frowned, but followed none-the-less. Ren made a mental note to meet this woman. Whoever could tame her wild and crazy older brother oughta be awarded a medal for their service to the community. She waved back at the children before going towards Hibari.

"_Darling_, don't frown so. People will think we've had a fight." She gave him a sweet smile and he decided not to answer her.

* * *

Upon entering the base, Ren rested a hand on Hibari's arm. He looked down slowly at her hand, then raised his face to glare at her. "Dear, this relationship just _isn't_ working out. As much as I love you, I'm gonna have to let you go." He opened his mouth, but she continued on. "No no, it's not you, darling. It's me. You deserve someone better, someone who can put up with your 'better than thou' attitude. I just don't fit the bill. We'll part our ways here. Hopefully next time we meet, it will be in good company and there are no hard feelings between us. I think a divorce is in order." He was quiet for a long moment.

"Move away from me before I bite you to death, _herbivore_." She stepped back, flashed him a smile, then went down the hall, turning the corner and disappearing.

* * *

The battle had been won. She did her part for the Family and saw them safely to victory. She stayed as long as she could before she crept away, no one seeing her except for Reborn. He knew all along what she would do, but he didn't stop her. He understood that she didn't want to say good-bye to her friends _again_. The pain of losing them once was hard enough, but seeing them go and then being greeted with their _Future selves_? He understood.

It also didn't take a genius to know she didn't want to see this era's Hibari again for quite some time. He had watched her go before he faced the party once again, as if nothing was wrong.

* * *

Ren set the pen down, smiling happily down at the notebook she filled from cover to cover. Her adventures of the past few weeks with her friends she had thought she lost. She hadn't said good-bye, but the pain of good-byes were still within her.

She leaned back in the chair, looking through the open doorway. "Honoka, baby~ Where're you hiding?" stumbling footsteps and the child appeared. She smiled, going through the doorway and into her mother's open arms.

"Mama!"

"Hey, baby~! Mama missed you!" she cuddled with her daughter, tapping her nose lightly and smiling when the child laughed. "Did Honoka miss Mommy?"

"Honoka with Daddy and uncle Kaori!"

"Yes I know! You had fun with Daddy too!" It should be interesting trying to explain to her husband where she had been and why it had taken so long. She doubted that he bought the 'travelling Japan!' story. The door bell rang and she stiffened, wondering if her husband was back so soon.

But then she remembered her husband had a key. She picked up Honoka, going to the door and peeking out. A mop of black hair seemed oddly familiar. She opened the door, surprised to see this era's Lambo standing on her doorstep, hands in his pockets. This time's I-Pin stood next to him, bowing her head slightly in greeting. "Ren-onee-chan." Lambo pulled a hand out of his pocket, showing her the card. "Tsuna wanted you to have this." Ren blinked as Honoka reached for it. Lambo smiled, handing it to the little girl. She gave a laugh, holding he card like a prize. Lambo looked over at Ren. I-Pin spoke.

"Ren-nee-chan, Tsuna wanted you to come to the Vongola's victory celebration, for Japan's branch. Hikaru-nii-san is welcome to come as well." Ren blinked openly at them.

* * *

Tsuna and friends were safely returned to the past. They had all gone to their homes, greeting their families with hugs and tearful reunions. They had inquired how Ren was doing, learning of her daring escape and the resulting injuries.

They weren't allowed to see her by order of Tomiko.

They didn't interfere. Tomiko was scary.

So, Ren was in the hospital, but her leg was healing oddly fast. The doctors were puzzled. Her stage of healing was already at what should've been 4 weeks.

It had been about a week since her accident.

They wanted to take tests, blood samples. If her healing process took less time, they could isolate that variable, make a sort of vaccine, let everybody's bodies heal quickly. Tomiko wouldn't hear of it. She ordered that Ren be released immediately. They had no choice but to comply. She _was_ fit to go home after-all… So, Ren was confined to the house for about 2 weeks until her leg was completely healed. Afterwards, Tomiko had her on a tight leash and demanded to know what happened.

Ren would answer any of her questions, except for the ones concerning where she had been, who she had been with, and what exactly had happened with the window. Ren was sorry about the window, but said nothing more on the matter. Tomiko tried threats and begging, but the girl would not budge.

Ren refused to talk. Her grandmother wouldn't understand anyway. The mafia? She would be admitted to an insane asylum.

And her insanely fast healing? She figured that out quite some time ago. A sort of reaction her own body had to injuries. She didn't know _exactly_ what it was, but she was happy with it all the same.

* * *

About three weeks later and Ren was back in school. It was a bit after lunch, in the afternoon. Math class. Her teachers hadn't questioned her about her absence and continued as if she had always been there. They knew when not to ask questions. She was bored and trying to look for a distraction.

A crash outside and some yelling voices provided perfect distraction for her, and for the rest of the class. The teacher ignored it, continuing to drone on and on. Ren decided to focus more on the noise than different formulas at the moment. Like everyone else.

The door was flung open and a very flustered Tsuna was seen, his hair messier than usual. He was in his school clothes and everyone immediately saw that he was a _commoner_. The teacher stopped in his discussion to stare at him. Tsuna looked around the room quickly, spotting Ren. "R-ren-chan!" he took a step forward and another face appeared behind Tsuna's shoulder. Tousled black hair and a cheery smile.

"Tsuna-fish?" The teacher looked at her in disbelief, as if he couldn't understand why the two knew each other. The other face lit up.

"Aha~ Ren, here you are." He beamed at her and she stood up.

"Yamamoto? Tsuna-fish?" A scowling face appeared on Tsuna's other side, the boy being pushed down slightly by the hands on his shoulders. Silver hair and green eyes went with the scowl.

"OI. WOMAN. DON'T CALL THE TENTH THAT! GIVE HIM THE PROPER RESPECT!" Ren blinked at him. And here she thought his manners might improve. A cough from the front of the room and the boys turned to look at the teacher. He was sending them a stern glare.

"Young men. If there's a reason you're here, please state it now. Otherwise, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Immediately. Kuroki-san." He eyed Ren, but she still stood. Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi knew these boys and the twins frowned. Tsuna blinked, feeling around in his pockets for something. He paled, turning to Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto… Did you…?" Tsuna indicated to his empty pockets. Yamamoto reached around in his, coming up empty handed. Tsuna paled even more.

"Hmm? Oh, Gokudera, didn't you get the note?" Yamamoto asked after a moment to check his back pockets as well. The two boys faced the silverette, who blinked at his precious Juudaime. You could almost see the light bulb go off when he reached into his pocket, pulling out a folded slip of paper.

"Here, Juudaime~!"

"A-arigato, Gokudera-kun…Umm…" Tsuna faced the teacher nervously, holding up the note. The man scowled, walking over and snatching it from him. Yamamoto restrained Gokudera from trying to maul him. The teacher looked at the boys with 'the look'.

"Gentleman. You expect me to believe this? A sudden appearance of a 'Family Problem' has caused need for Ren to leave the school once? Signed by a… you have got to be kidding me… a 'Bucking Bronco Cavallone'?!" the teacher's scowl deepened and the students laughed. Tsuna's face burned and he looked down at his shoes.

"Oh no!" a gasp and the teacher looked over at Ren. "You can't be serious! It's happened again, Tsuna?!" Tsuna had no idea what she was talking about, but nodded quickly.

"Y-yes! It's pretty bad this time!" She hurriedly gathered her things, rushing to the door. Hikaru stood up, reaching to grab her arm, stop her.

"Sensei! I have to go!" She bowed her head and ushered her friends out of the door. The teacher was flustered to say the least.

"K-kuroki! I can't just-" but the door closed in his face. Hikaru's hand dropped down, his face sad. Kaoru tugged him down, patting his shoulder.

"_I hope you've been behaving, Gokudera-kun!"_ Ren stated as they moved down the hall.

"_DO YOU WANNA DIE, WOMAN?!"_

And the voices faded.

* * *

They were rushing her to the awaiting car and once safely inside, Dino ordered Romario to go.

And go he did. At a speed that was definitely not legal. "D-dino, is this necessary?!" she managed as she was tossed around a bit before being caught by Yamamoto and buckled in. "Arigato, Yamamoto~!" she beamed at her friend who ruffled her hair in reply. Dino faced his cousin with a grim expression and her smile faltered. She looked over at Tsuna. "Tsuna-fish? What's going on?" Tsuna looked at his two guardians and when they nodded, he looked back at Ren.

"It's Hibari-san. He's gone a rampage. Onii-san's trying to calm him down, but even Dino couldn't…" he paused before he continued. "Ren-chan. Could you try? You were able to stop him when Mukuro appeared that one time… Could you try?" Ren blinked at him, looking to her cousin for confirmation.

The look on his face was all she needed.

"Me?"

"Hai. Please." Yamamoto was watching her quietly, watching for her reaction. She sat quietly as Romario continued to speed through the streets. Tsuna hoped she would help, but he understood if she didn't want to. Dino decided to help out.

"Ren, you know his style. He's pretty strong, but maybe you can fight his strength with your own?" he suggested quietly. Ren shifted her gaze to him and he gave a smile. "You'd be able to. you're pretty strong yourself. You could give it a shot." Ren leaned back, placing her hands in her lap.

"If it's Tsuna-fish asking," Tsuna nodded quickly, "Then I just can't say no, yea?" She gave a grin and Dino reached across, ruffling her hair too.

* * *

Ren gazed around sadly at the grounds. The area was almost totally demolished, ruined by the terror that was Hibari Kyoya. She shook her head, her gaze going to where Hibari was currently 'sparring' with Ryohei, demolishing more of the area. Dino gave her a nod and off she went, going in on the suicide mission that Tsuna had entrusted her with. She watched as Hibari finally snapped, lunging forward to crush Ryohei's attempts at calming him. She used her own body to block the blow that would have caught the Sun Guardian by surprise.

A sharp pain in her stomach, but she put up with it, her arms spread wide as her left eye closed, trying to dismiss the pain. Both of them stopped, Ryohei's eyes widening more so than Hibari's(not that the skylark would admit it). "R-ren…" She gave a strained smile.

"R-ryohei, did you go and f-find another sparring partner?" she took in a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and straightened up. "I can deal with this now. It's alright." Ryohei took a slight step back, not wanting to leave the girl alone with Namimori's demon. She waved him off. "Go on. I'll be fine." She gazed determinedly at Hibari, daring him to continue.

The chairman smirked.

Ryohei fell back with the others. They all felt they should handle the prefect because, after-all, Hibari _was_ a Guardian of Vongola. But they knew that if there was anyone who could handle the Cloud Guardian, it was Ren Kuroki.

Hopefully.

She started talking with him, her arms still spread out. They couldn't hear the words. Her face was focused and Tsuna saw the fire that burned in her eyes when she was deadly serious. The words were meant for Hibari and Hibari alone. Yamamoto watched the scene hopefully. "Do you think it's working?" he questioned. Gokudera was about to bite back that since it was the Tenth's idea, of-course it was working. Unfortunately, Hibari chose to lunge for her, aiming for her stomach once again.

No. No it was not working.

So, to say they were shocked at what happened next was not an understatement.

Ren shook her head, side-stepping both the first tonfa aimed for her stomach, and then the second aimed for her head, making Hibari swing at the air. She then grabbed him by the front of his jacket, glaring at him for a moment before she then proceeded to yell something at him. The wind blew her words away from the group, once again not letting them hear what was being said. Whatever was being said made Hibari stop in his assault. Which was a first.

The idea that she was going to kiss him popped into Tsuna's head, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Ren would never do anything _that_ suicidal. He knew her. She wouldn't endanger her life that carelessly.

A moment or so and Tsuna had to rethink that logic.

Yes. Ren _would_ do something at suicidal. Yes. Ren _would _endanger her life that carelessly. Ren _always_ did what was least expected.

He just never thought that Hibari wouldn't try to immediately kill her for it. Apparently Dino had the same thought, if his wide eyes and dropped jaw said anything about the matter.

* * *

Well. That was… interesting. My mother says to just write and see what happens.

This is what happens when I take my mother's advice.

Interesting, no?


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: OHSHC and KHR! do not belong to me, nor do I claim they do.

* * *

The quiet movement of curtains and soft light filtered into the room. The woman smiled, closing her eyes briefly before opening them to smile at the little yellow bird that flitted over to her. "Hey buddy," The cheerful little fluff ball landed on her shoulder, nuzzling her neck lightly. She smiled, petting it gently with her index finger. "You're so cute…" A shift in the wind and she looked up at the sky, her smile staying in place. "Mmm. Maybe I'll go shopping today…?" She pet Hibird gently once again before moving him to the small table, leaving him as she left to change into street clothes. A note explaining where she went for her husband before she locked the door behind her.

All was silent.

* * *

Warm air, blue sky, no clouds (both clouds) in sight, it was a good day. Ren smiled passing the many people in the street. She passed through unnoticed, just another wife doing the weekly shopping. Like the many countless others in the crowds. "Ren, dear~!" She looked over her shoulder at the woman waving. "Hi!" Ren waved back, moving against the crowd to join her and the other lady. The one who had called smiled brightly, grasping her by the shoulders and looking her up and down. "Mhmm, it's so nice to see you! You've grown so much! Oh?" She held up Ren's left hand, scrutinizing the ring there. "Mm. That's right… you're married… And where's your hunk of a husband on this fine day, hmm, hmm? He didn't let you leave the house alone, did he?" The lady began to work herself up, hands turning into fists, deep blue hair swaying back and forth against her shoulders, coal black eyes blazing. "Why I oughta-"

"Hina, that's quite enough." The other lady with them stated quietly, clear green eyes calm. "There's a logical explanation, is there not, Ren?" Ren gave a relieved smile.

"Thank you, Naomi. Yes. He's been busy with work, so he comes home late at night. I don't mind, so I let him sleep in. When I go home, he'll be up." Ren thanked her older sister, Naomi, for stopping her even older sister, Hina. Hina had quite a temped if she got riled up enough. Naomi gave a smile.

"See, Hina? It's as Ren says. He almost didn't make the wedding due to work, don't you remember?" Ren's smile faltered as Hina went off again, ranting about how he wasn't good enough for her baby sister if he didn't even have time for his own wedding. If Ren remembered correctly, Hibari had been dealing with Kusakabe, looking into the matter of Box Weapons. He was still at it, but she didn't mind. Tsuna had pulled him away just in-time for the main event.

Naomi tried to talk reasonably with her sister, using every calming method she knew. She knew quite a few. Ren tapped her on the shoulder, indicating she was going to continue her shopping. Naomi waved her off, returning back to the matter of Hina.

* * *

She turned the key in the lock, opening the door to the still quiet house. She looked into the kitchen and, upon not seeing her husband there, moved to the main room. He was seated at the low table, going through the newspaper, oddly enough. He looked up when she entered. "Ren."

"Kyoya. You slept well?"

"Fine." She smiled, seating herself calmly across from him. He glanced over the top of the paper at her before returning to whatever he was reading. "Your day?" Ren knew what he was asking and that he wasn't really all _that _interested in what had happened to her so far, but he would ask all the same, simply to ask.

"I didn't get any shopping done because I forgot the list here at home," A noise from the back of his throat, but he said nothing. "And I saw my sisters. They asked how you were; I told them fine." He turned the page. "Oh. And I invited an old friend over for dinner. I hope you don't mind." He stopped reading, looking up slowly. She gave him a smile, one that he thought he recognized. "They'll be here around, oh, 5-ish or so. Well. I'll prepare lunch." She rose gracefully, leaving the room. Hibari turned to look out the window. Hibird chirped happily on the sill.

* * *

"Ren." Ren was humming quietly, stirring the soup that would go with their dinner. She still hadn't _exactly_ told her husband _who_ was coming. That bothered him.

"Hmm, Kyoya?" She tasted the soup, thinking for a moment. "Needs something… hmm… Ah! Cinnamon!" Kyoya blinked. Since when did you put cinnamon in soup? "Yea, Kyoya?" Ren had crawled up onto the counter and was peering into the high cupboards, looking for the spice. "You were saying something?"

"Will you get down from there?" She turned and looked at him from over her shoulder.

"And not get the cinnamon?"

"Add salt instead." She pouted lightly, but crawled down and went for the salt. A pinch of it and she tasted the soup again.

"Hmm… Well… It'll do." She gave a nod, stirring it before turning down the burner and sticking the lid on. She glanced at the clock. "Oh, 4:52. I should probably go and put my make-up on. I'll be right back, Ky—Kyoya!" She was currently pinned to the wall, hands at her side, looking up at her husband in confusion. He gazed down at her evenly.

"Ren."

"Kyoya, come on, they'll be here any minute. You can't be rude." She narrowed her eyes a bit, frowning.

"Ren."

"Kyoya." The doorbell rang and he frowned, releasing his hold on his wife. She sighed, shaking her head. "_Darling_, don't frown so. People will think we've had a fight." She moved through the kitchen doorway before she stopped, turning her head to the side. "Huh… I wonder… Have I said that before?" She shrugged, moving to the door and opening it. Hibari remained in the kitchen, arms crossed as he leaned against the counter. "_Ah! Hikaru! So good to see you! I hoped you could make it!"_ He turned with a narrowed gaze to the doorway, his murderous aura leaking out. It was _**him**_.

"_Wouldn't miss it for the world. I haven't seen you in ages. Oh, these are for you."_

"_Oh, Hikaru! You shouldn't have!"_ Whatever he did, Hibari decided he _really_ shouldn't have done it. "_How did you know?_"

"_Ah, well, Kaoru suggested those. He said Rina always likes them, so, he thought maybe you might too."_

"_Aww, you're so sweet! Come in, come in. Dinner will be ready soon; I just gotta set it out."_ Ren poked her head into the kitchen, her eyes fierce, a bouquet of tulips in her arms. "Kyoya. Be nice. He's an old friend." Her voice told him she was serious.

"You invited him…" She blew out a sigh.

"Yes, Kyoya. I invited him. He's a friend. I know you don't like him," his eyes narrowed, "But _he's a friend_. Behave yourself." She pulled a vase out from under the sink, filling it with water and plopping the tulips in. She smiled softly, setting them on the kitchen table. "Hmm, they look pretty… Well! Better get dinner." Footsteps and Hibari restrained himself.

"Anything I can help with Re- Oh, Kyoya, right?" The young man gazed inquiringly at Namimori's Demon. Deep auburn hair, not as spiky anymore, but still. Golden eyes not all that different of color from Ren's own. Casual clothes, a laid-back expression on his face. "Yea, Kyoya. Nice to see you again." He held out a hand, which Hibari pointedly ignored. Ren smiled at the man.

"Yea, can you take this out?" Ren indicated to the bowl of rice and the two covered plates. Hikaru nodded. "I'll bring out the last plate, kay?"

"Sure." And off he went. Ren turned to her husband.

"Kyoya. You're acting like a child." He gazed at her evenly. "Hikaru has done nothing to you. Ever. He's only ever been nice and friendly towards you, regardless of _your_ behavior toward him. Yes, I _liked_ him in the past," Eyes narrowed, "Yes, he asked me out once, but by then I was back in Namimori. Taking care of _you_. That temper tantrum you threw didn't help you at all." She put her hands on her hips, narrowing her own eyes at him. Hibari didn't feel the need to explain himself. "I'm waiting, Kyoya. What's with your bad attitude toward him?" She raised her chin a bit.

"In the Future, when I first met you, you were known as Ren Hitachiin." His voice was a monotone, his eyes blank. "You were married to him." Ren stared at him as if he was crazy.

"…What are you taking that I should know about? If it's anything illegal, I swear Kyoya, I will-"

"You broke your leg. You came home. I disappeared on you." He leaned against the counter easily. "The Future was ruined. Vongola was having issues. Those from the Past were sent. You weren't. You stayed and grew up. You married _**him**_." What he was saying, oddly enough, made sense. Sort of.

"Alright. So what if I did?" She stepped up to him, resting a hand on his cheek. "Don't you get it? I'm not married to Hikaru. I'm married to Hibari Kyoya. Don't live in the Past, hmm?" She grinned and picked up the plate, walking out to the dining room. "Come on, Kyoya~!"

* * *

"Kyoya?" It was night, dark. Ren laid in bed, staring at Hibari's back. "Kyoya…" He had been in a bad mood all night and had finally left the house all together halfway through dinner. Ren had been reminded of when she had did that at her grandmother's, but this was different. He was a grown man for God's sake! "Kyoya… I really need to talk with you..." she crawled over to him and sat up, peering over him to where she could see his face. He was awake, his expression dark. "Kyoya…" She leaned against him. "Please, Kyoya…" His gaze shifted to her and she gave a small smile. "Will you listen?" He looked back at the window and her face fell. "Alright then." She took one of his hands in hers', tugging on it a bit so that he would look at her. "Kyoya, I really need to talk with you…"

"What." She bit her lip, looking at the window briefly. The moon was bright and cast shadows across their room, putting everything in either darkness or silver light. She took his hand and held it tightly.

"Kyoya, please… it's important…" He sat up smoothly, easily towering over her smaller frame. He gazed down at her, his face void of any emotion. "I know you're mad at me for… well, that, but… Kyoya… Please talk to me." Her lower lip quivered slightly and she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly, her head buried in his shirt. Deep breaths on her part and he wrapped his own arms around her slowly, not quite entirely sure what to make of this situation.

"Ren. Tell me what's wrong." His voice was quiet and she looked up at him, eyes rimmed red.

"C-congratulations, Kyoya… Y-you're going to be a f-father." And she buried her head into his shirt once again.

The Cloud Guardian of Vongola was _not_ prepared for that.

* * *

Ahhh, and here ends our story of Ren and the Beast. Such a cute little tale. I had fun writing this. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I know I enjoyed writing it. Perhaps there'll be a sequel… HA. That'd be funny. Kyoya going through fatherhood. Can't wait to see how he'll act toward his little 'angel' when she's a teenager and wants to date guys… if he has a girl that is. I doubt there'll be a sequel, but hey. One day I might be like, 'Oh, I wanna do that!' and so I will. But until then, this is all. Thank you for your support as I've gone through this story. I really appreciate everything you guys have done.


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